Team news: Dallas Cowboys | Page 69

The New England Patriots acquired wide receiver Brandin Cooks from the New Orleans Saints on Friday for a first- and third-round pick in the upcoming draft, multiple sources told ESPN's Dianna Russini.

The Patriots also will receive the Saints' fourth-round pick (No. 118 overall). New England's draft selections headed to the Saints are 32nd and 103rd overall.

The Patriots love receivers who can turn a short catch into a long gainer and with his speed, Cooks fits the bill. The signing is great for Tom Brady, but it's a downgrade for Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell. Cooks figures to rank as a WR2 in early projections since the Patriots have several mouths to feed. In New Orleans, it's a small downgrade for Drew Brees while Michael Thomas, Willie Snead and newcomer Ted Ginn will pick up the slack.

Cowboys planning on giving veteran QB Mark Sanchez majority of snaps at position Sunday at Eagles, source said.

Another report said that Darren McFadden is expected to see more work than Ezekiel Elliott.

Owners should steer clear of the Dallas starters this week.

Cowboys Inactives
Morris Claiborne CB
Tyrone Crawford DE
Justin Durant LB
Demarcus Lawrence DE
Alfred Morris RB
Mark Sanchez QB
Cedric Thornton DT

Related players: Dak Prescott, Dez Bryant, Ezekiel Elliott

This was fully expected all day despite the Cowboys clinching the top seed and a first round bye leaving this a meaningless game in Week 16. Dallas HC Jason Garrett said players would get a normal workload tonight against the Lions. That could perhaps change should the game get out of hand, but for now Bryant, Prescott and Elliott are solid starts.

The Cowboys have nothing to gain and much to lose in their final two games of the season, but coach Jason Garrett doesn’t believe in resting his starters. And so he won’t.

Garrett reiterated today that he will give starting quarterback Dak Prescott, starting running back Ezekiel Elliott and everyone else a normal workload tonight against the Lions, even though the Cowboys have already clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

“We like the rhythm of our offense and how Dak is playing,” Garrett said, via Ed Werder of ESPN.

In other words, Garrett thinks the risk of Prescott getting rusty if he sits out for three weeks (the final two regular season games as well as the Cowboys’ bye week) is greater than the risk of Prescott getting hurt if he plays the next two weeks. Same appears to be the case with Elliott. This comes despite the loss of Derek Carr and Marcus Mariota to leg injuries this week in other NFL action. It's probably safe to assume the Cowboy fantasy stars will at least start with a full workload, but if the game gets out of hand either way, it's possible the backups could play more.

In the immediate aftermath of Dak Prescott doubling his season interception total and starting a one-game losing streak, the Cowboys were quick to insist that the rookie quarterback was still their guy.

(The fact those interceptions went from two to four and he had won 11 straight prior to that likely led to their conviction.)

But when questions cropped up in the aftermath about the possible availability of Tony Romo and what it would take for Prescott to lose his grip on the starting job, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was just as forceful.

“You can make it as simple or as complex as you want to make it,” Garrett said, via Todd Archer of ESPN.com. “It’s pretty simple for us: Dak’s going to play quarterback as we go forward.”

As the story said, there’s reason to wonder, as Prescott has failed to top 200 yards in any of his last three games, and was shaky at best against the Giants Sunday night, with Dez Bryant continuing to be a bit of an afterthought in the offense (catching one pass for 10 yards against the Giants).

Saints Inactives
WR Michael Thomas
C Max Unger
LB Craig Robertson
S Shiloh Keo
RB Marcus Murphy
LB Travis Feeney
C Jack Allen

Related players: Brandin Cooks, Willie Snead, Brandon Coleman

This could mean more looks for Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead. Brandon Coleman could benefit the most in terms of playing time.

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Brandin Cooks has had his role reduced a bit this season, but he played a sizable amount of snaps one week after expressing frustration.

It would be wrong to assume Cooks' frustration led to the increased role because it was likely matchup related, which was the reason for some of his reduced snaps in other games.

Cooks was on the field for 51 of 61 snaps (84 percent) in Sunday's loss to the Detroit Lions, and he finished with seven catches on nine targets for 73 yards. It was just the second time in the past six games he eclipsed the 80 percent mark.

Related players: Michael Thomas

Playing 77 percent of offensive snaps entering Sunday's game, Cooks obviously plays a significant role in the offense, but that percentage is a decrease from 2015 when he played 83 percent in 2015. Cooks led receivers in snaps last year, but he's second this season behind rookie Michael Thomas, who played 78 percent before Sunday's game and played one more snap than Cooks Sunday. In 2015, Cooks played at least 80 percent of snaps in 11 of 16 games. So far this year, he's played 80 percent in just six of 12 games. Some of the reduction is surely related to the blocking ability of Brandon Coleman and Willie Snead. Cooks ranks second on the Saints in targets (84), receptions (58), receiving yards (809) and receiving touchdowns (six). Thomas leads in all of those categories, the story all said.

The Saints’ offense scored seven touchdowns in Sunday’s win over the Rams, so surely everyone must be feeling good, right?

Wrong.

Saints receiver Brandin Cooks, who did not have a pass thrown his way on Sunday, is apparently getting upset with his role. Mike Triplett of ESPN reports that Cooks has felt a growing frustration with his usage in the offense, thinking that he ought to be the primary option.

Cooks posted a cryptic social media message this week saying, “I guess I have to turn into a businessman,” perhaps implying that if the Saints aren’t going to use him the way he thinks he should be used, he’s going to save his body for when he can hit free agency and go to a team that values his services. Still, it’s not like Cooks is being ignored in the passing game: He’s second on the team in catches (51), yards (736) and touchdowns (six). The good news is maybe the Saint go out of their way to feed Cooks this week.

We’re getting to the point in the NFL season when rookies are playing games beyond what they would play during a college season, which can lead to concerns about diminished returns as players hit the so-called rookie wall.

One player who could be the subject of such concern is Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott. He’s run the ball more than anyone else in the league and is on pace for 353 carries, which would be the second-most for any running back in a season since the start of the 2010 campaign.

Elliott said earlier this month that he isn’t worried about the cumulative effect of his workload and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has the same opinion.

“Not at all. The more we can give Ezekiel the ball the better,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News.

Related players: Alfred Morris

As the story said, that’s not a surprising statement from Jones as DeMarco Murray posted the most carries since the start of 2010 when he ran 392 times during the 2014 season and Elliott’s play has been essential to Dallas’ success this season. The Cowboys let Murray walk away as a free agent that offseason, something that obviously won’t happen with Elliott, and they have Alfred Morris on hand to take work in the backfield, although neither of those things appears to be impacting their plans in the backfield.