As the 2022 NFL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday, it became apparent that the Houston Texans had no plans to trade wide receiver Brandin Cooks, much to his chagrin.
Cooks no-showed practice on Tuesday as trade rumors swirled around him, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com.
I currently don’t see WR Brandin Cooks at #Texans walkthrough practice right now.
— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) November 1, 2022
Perhaps the wideout was simply presuming that there was no point to be there because he would be traded by day’s end.
No trade for #Texans WR Brandin Cooks, source said. There were talks. But nothing came of it.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 1, 2022
However, that didn’t happen, and three minutes after the deadline passed, he tweeted his very dramatic reaction.
Don’t take a man’s kindness for granted. Covered for the lies for too long those days are done. Crossed the line with playing with my career 🏹
— Brandin Cooks (@brandincooks) November 1, 2022
“Don’t take a man’s kindness for granted,” wrote Cooks. “Covered for the lies for too long those days are done. Crossed the line with playing with my career.”
Cooks has been traded three times during his nine-year career after starting as a first-round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 2014. He was apparently hoping that the fourth time would be the charm, but his fully guaranteed $18 million contract in 2023 might have prevented any teams from taking him on.
Regardless, the very dramatic tweet reminded a lot of NFL folks of a meme that makes the round whenever a wide receiver does something like this. It comes from a tweet by C.D. Carter who points out the differences in how quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers express themselves on Twitter. And Cooks provided the perfect example to back it up.
https://t.co/VLUfQd1tur pic.twitter.com/5dfpyb1OTl
— Aaron Beard (@aaronbeardap) November 1, 2022
— TuaTSzn𓅓 (@Tua__szn) November 1, 2022
Every time. https://t.co/CRdFrFKDj8 pic.twitter.com/T4Tr9HsDez
— Bruce Nolan (@BruceExclusive) November 1, 2022
https://twitter.com/thebennatan/status/1587538527914442758
https://twitter.com/dbbmatt/status/1587537609596837888
https://twitter.com/barry/status/1587537881048006658
