Jerry Jones’s condemning of Brandin Cooks leads to Cowboys WR stepping away from flying planes: Report
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks took a pre-game flight before last week's preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks. A video of the wide receivers flying teammates Micah Parsons and Stephon Gilmore over Lumen Field circulated on social media.
Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones wasn't pleased about his players taking the flight before the game. His thoughts on Tuesday have apparently resonated with Cooks, who is a licensed pilot. Brandin Cooks told reporters that he won't be getting into the cockpit until the season is over.
"That was probably the last flight of the year. I'd obviously never do anything like that during the regular season. We'll get back to it after February."
Cooks noted that he lives in the Pacific Northwest and that he always enjoys the views from above. He wanted to share that with Micah Parsons and Stephon Gilmore, and he thanked them for their trust in him. An opportunity they were able to take advantage of during the team's visit to Seattle.
What did Jerry Jones say about Brandin Cooks pre-game flight?
Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones made it clear on Tuesday that he wasn't happy that three of his players were on a plane before Saturday's game. Jones said that he doesn't agree with 'part-time pilots' referring to wide receiver Brandin Cooks.
"One thing I want to do is chastise Cooks for getting in that airplane with the best part of the team and flying up there with them, looking around Seattle. Boy, I'm glad I didn't know that was going on. But I would have to tell him part-time pilots, in my mind, are not the way to go."
During his rant about his wide receiver flying, he also referred to Gilmore and Parsons as 'the best part of the team.' Jerry Jones clearly found out about the flight at the same time that everyone else did, through the video.
The Dallas Cowboys team owner finished by telling reporters that he would have grounded the flight himself if he had learned of it earlier.
Jones and the Cowboys traded for Cooks from the Houston Texans in March 2023, in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2023 and a sixth-round pick in 2024. He will now play for his fourth team in his tenth season.