5 Cowboys Who Won't Return in 2025 With Season Officially Over

2. Brandin Cooks, wide receiver

It's certainly been mentioned before but it's worth mentioning again. The Dallas Cowboys' decision to acquire Brandin Cooks in a trade with the Houston Texans a couple of years ago had plenty of merit at the time the deal was made.

Cooks had been a lock for 1,000 receiving yards at all of his previous NFL destinations. He did it with the Saints, Patriots, Rams, and Texans before coming to Dallas where he was entering another high-volume passing attack as the presumptive WR2. With so much attention on CeeDee Lamb, it should have been the easiest 1,000 yards of Cooks's career, but he struggled a bit to fit in Dallas.

Over two seasons, Cooks had 80 receptions for over 900 yards and 11 touchdowns. He had eight touchdowns in 2023, which is obviously a very strong number, but he wasn't the consistent explosive threat the Cowboys envisioned when they traded for him and took on his salary.

Now, Cooks is slated for unrestricted free agency at the age of 31 going on 32, and there's little doubt that he'll be allowed to test the market at this stage of his career. With Brian Schottenheimer now calling the shots, perhaps the Cowboys could go after Tyler Lockett if the Seahawks cut him this offseason. Lockett's career began to really take flight under Schottenheimer with Seattle a handful of years ago.

Given the development of Jalen Tolbert as well, the Cowboys don't need to unnecessarily spin their wheels here. It's time to move on from Cooks and move forward with other players at receiver for Dak Prescott to spread the ball around to.