Cowboys' Mike McCarthy on Brandin Cooks' Role: 'I Don't Play Fantasy Football'

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy didn't appear to enjoy being asked multiple questions during Monday's press conference about why Brandin Cooks only registered one catch on two targets for seven yards in Sunday's 28-23 loss against the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I don't play fantasy football," McCarthy told reporters. "We have game plans and I think it's important and this is a challenge for guys because our system is built on making the quarterback successful. That's the way this passing game is taught. It's the way I've learned it. It's the way it has always been the last 30 years."

The Cowboys sent the Houston Texans a fifth-round pick in 2023 and a sixth-round pick in 2024 for Cooks in the offseason, with the expectation that he would provide a solid sidekick in the passing game to CeeDee Lamb and replace the production the team lost when Amari Cooper was traded to the Cleveland Browns ahead of the 2022 campaign.

Instead, the 30-year-old wideout has managed just 17 catches for 165 yards and two scores. Neither Cooks or Michael Gallup (22 catches for 243 yards) has offered a major threat behind Lamb (57 catches for 843 yards and three scores) in the passing game.

The positive development is that Jake Ferguson is emerging as a solid tight end in his second season, with touchdown receptions in consecutive games and a big performance against the Eagles (seven catches for 91 yards and a score).

Still, Ferguson being second on the team in receptions (32) and receiving yards (328) was not the expectation after the acquisition of Cooks. Certainly, Cooks wasn't expected to be fifth on the team in both receptions and targets (29).

Some of that may come down to quarterback Dak Prescott having less time to build chemistry with Cooks in the passing game than Lamb, Ferguson, Gallup or running back Tony Pollards. Some of that may also come down to the team not doing a good enough job scheming looks for Cooks.

"You have to have coverage beaters and so forth, but we play to the discipline of the quarterback and the training of the quarterback," McCarthy said, suggesting that some of Cooks' usage has simply come down to how Prescott goes through his progressions. "Yes, I'd love to see everybody get the ball. But when you throw for (374) yards and you got to come in here and answer questions about someone not getting the ball, I mean, come on—I don't think that's a real evaluation."