Veteran Cowboys wideout suffers MCL sprain

The early part of Brandin Cooks‘s Cowboys tenure may involve an injury-driven absence. The veteran deep threat is dealing with an MCL sprain, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telgram’s Clarence Hill.

Although Cooks played through his recent injury to close out the Cowboys’ 40-0 romp over the Giants, his Week 2 status is up in the air. This injury commonly causes players to miss at least multiple games, though timetables vary.

Cooks played 39 offensive snaps Sunday night and, per the Dallas Morning News's Michael Gehlken, was walking without favoring the knee issue this week. While Cooks said he feels good, it would not surprise to see the Cowboys exercise caution here. The team sent fifth- and sixth-round draft choices to the Texans for Cooks in March. Two years remain on the accomplished wideout/trade mainstay’s contract.

Dallas did not need much in the way of receiver contributions in Week 1, though the Week 2 Jets matchup will present a tougher matchup for the team’s set of pass catchers. The team has starters CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup healthy, the latter now being nearly two years removed from a career-sidetracking ACL tear. The team also saw offseason improvement from 2022 third-rounder Jalen Tolbert, who struggled to make an impact as a rookie. Tolbert caught just two passes last season.

Injury absences have not been common for Cooks in his career. A calf injury sidelined the well-traveled veteran briefly last season. From 2015-21, however, Cooks combined to miss only four games. A two-concussion 2019 season proved concerning, and the Rams dealt the former first-round pick to the Texans months later. But Cooks has otherwise not needed to navigate much on the injury front.

Joining Brandon Marshall in surpassing 1,000 receiving yards for four teams, Cooks is trying to make NFL history by clearing that bar for a fifth franchise. The most recent of Cooks’s six 1,000-yard years came in Houston with Davis Mills as the primary triggerman. Seventh-round rookie Jalen Brooks and return man KaVontae Turpin are the other receivers on Dallas’s 53-man roster. Brooks was inactive Sunday night. Veteran Tyron Johnson resides on Dallas’ practice squad.