Is Brandin Cooks a good fantasy option with Tyrod Taylor starting at QB for the Houston Texans?
The Houston Texans announced on Monday morning that they have officially named Tyrod Taylor as their starting quarterback beginning Week 1. This is a big topic for the millions of fantasy football players who have already begun drafting and accessing their offensive players.
As the Texans' quarterback situation has been left up in the air, wide receiver Brandin Cooks draft stock has plummeted, sending him to be the 40th wide receiver drafted in most fantasy football leagues.
Is the news of Taylor as starting quarterback good or bad for Brandin Cooks fantasy football draft stock?
Should Brandin Cooks be a start in fantasy football?
The 2020 season was Brandin Cooks first season with the Houston Texans. He had 1,150 receiving yards and six touchdowns in 15 games, which ranks among one of the best of his career. In terms of fantasy football stats, those numbers put him as the 17th highest wide receiver in fantasy points. That, of course, was with Deshaun Watson as the starting quarterback.
With Tyrod Taylor now named the starting quarterback, Cooks should remain a good fantasy football start at wide receiver. And that's for a few reasons.
The first being that Cooks doesn't have to compete for targets with others on the offense. The Texans have parted ways with Randall Cobb, Will Fuller V and Keke Coutee. Cooks will be the Texans' number one wide receiver and his number of targets should largely outweigh his other receivers.
The second reason why Cooks is a good start for fantasy football reasons is because he and Taylor have created chemistry on the field. Taylor seems comfortable throwing to Cooks as a reliable receiving option and has recently said that he enjoys having him as his number one receiver. That would indicate, when in doubt, that Taylor is throwing the ball to Cooks.
As for Taylor, his last opportunity to start a full season was with the Buffalo Bills in 2015-2017. Taylor has a big arm, averaging around 3,000 passing yards each season. Tyrod taylor has the ability to get the ball to Cooks, so for fantasy football owners that are worried about that, they shouldn't be.
For fantasy football owners, Brandin Cooks has been trending as the third to fourth receiver taken on individual teams, and he could be a steal in the 2021 Fantasy Football Draft if he keeps up with last year's numbers, which he is in a position to do.