Jerry Jones ribs Brandin Cooks for taking Micah Parsons, Stephon Gilmore on a flight
Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones had a bone to pick with wide receiver Brandin Cooks over the weekend.
The former Texans star took edge rusher Micah Parsons and cornerback Stephon Gilmore up in the clouds above Seattle in a small plane before their game versus the Seahawks. Sure, Cooks has his pilot’s license, but even so, Jones wouldn’t have signed off on the trio of stars, or likely any of his players, taking such a big risk.
“Boy, I’m glad I didn’t know that was going on,” Jones said, via The Athletics‘ Jon Machota. “Part-time pilots are not the way to go.”
The Cowboys weren’t playing most of their starters during Saturday’s loss so Cooks, Parsons and Gilmore didn’t even need to suit up.
Cooks posted on Instagram, “They let the wrong ones in the sky,” as well as, “They need to let me do the fly over for the National Anthem.”
Cooks, in his first season with the Cowboys, hasn’t recorded a stat yet in the preseason. Dallas acquired him via trade during the offseason to add an extra threat for Dak Prescott.
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Prescott believes Cooks is already having a major impact on the wide receivers on the team.
“He’s a true veteran,” Prescott said last month. “He’s a true pro on and off the field the way he takes care of his body. The way that he approaches the game. He’s been in the league for a while. You can tell that he’s been around some really good coaches, some great quarterbacks.
“And he brings all that experience to this team and that receiver group. Guys like CeeDee [Lamb] and Michael Gallup. They’re benefitting so much from him… Him being able to stretch the field opens up some options for us. It’s gonna be great.”
Throughout the course of his nine-year NFL career, Cooks has hauled in over 1,000 receiving yards in six of those seasons. The former Oregon State star has hauled in 630 total catches for 8,616 receiving yards, while bringing in 49 total touchdown catches in his career.
The Cowboys acquired Cooks in a trade with the Houston Texans to the tune of $12 million.
For that price tag, Jerry Jones thinks Cooks will open up the Cowboys offense like Amari Cooper did with CeeDee Lamb in 2021.
“I think what you want Cooks to do is what Amari did for the overall passing game,” Jones said in the offseason. “Not only in the production, which you counted on with Amari but also the room he opened up for the other receivers and those two things because of the Cooks’ speed and because of just his route running ability he does that for you.”