5 players fantasy football owners should hope are traded this offseason

1. Brandin Cooks, WR, Houston Texans

Cooks is no stranger to being traded, of course, playing for four teams in his nine NFL seasons thus far. But that has generally not stopped him from being productive, with six 1,000-yard seasons and six finishes as a top-20 fantasy wide receiver (standard scoring) on his resume. His most impressive campaign might have been in 2021 when he had a career-high 90 receptions for the Texans without Deshaun Watson as his quarterback.

Cooks was openly frustrated that he was not traded at last season’s deadline, at least on social media if not also to the Texans behind the scenes. A more recent anecdote, from the Houston Chronicle in January, said he has told the Texans he doesn’t want to be part of a rebuilding process.

Some reporting more recently has suggested a Cooks trade is not close as the start of the league year approaches, with the New England Patriots and some others also bandied about as a possible suitor. But deadlines drive action, and Cooks trade talks will surely ramp up.

The ship has sailed on Cooks having a steady quarterback for a multi-year stretch in his career. But a trade away from the Texans can only be good for his fantasy value, and the landing spot really doesn’t matter in that regard. A bounce back to WR2 standing as a fantasy receiver is in the offing for 2023, on an inevitable new team.