The veteran duo joined the Cowboys with a similar goal. Together, they’re thriving in a big brother role.
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Stephon Gilmore (21) and wide receiver Brandin Cooks (3) leave the field after the Cowboys 31-16 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in an NFL preseason football game at AT&T Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, in Arlington.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
It was 2017 when the relationship started in New England.
Stephon Gilmore, the soft-spoken cornerback, and Brandin Cooks, the talkative wide receiver, became close friends on and off the field.
They were the new kids in the lunchroom on a team filled with other veterans trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
The Patriots didn’t win the Super Bowl in the pair’s only year there together, but the lessons learned followed them to other teams. With the Cowboys, the two veterans, now in their 30s, are the big brothers on one of the youngest teams in the NFL playoffs.
You could say this is a last run for Cooks and Gilmore as the postseason starts Sunday with a wild card playoff against the Packers at AT&T Stadium. Don’t say that to them, however.
Gilmore won a Super Bowl title with the Patriots in the 2018 season, against Cooks’ Los Angeles Rams team. This time they’d like to do it together, and this might be their best chance.
Along the way, though, these two sages are helping their teammates and themselves.
“True best friends. True brothers essentially connect and I don’t think it’s something anybody can take away from them,” receiver Jalen Tolbert said. “I’m always with them a lot. Just being able to see how they move off each other, work together.”
The two talk and text every day and during the offseason. Gilmore told Cooks it would be great if they played together one more time.
On March 14, the Cowboys traded a fifth-round pick to the Colts for Gilmore. The cornerback quickly called his best friend and said playing together could maybe happen.
Four days later, the Cowboys gave up two picks, a fifth- and sixth-rounder, to the Texans for Cooks.
While both players mentor younger players, it was Cooks who told Gilmore he needed to improve his game.
“That bond,” Cooks said. “We don’t sugarcoat. It helps us push each other. Not everything is ‘Ah man, everything is good. Bro, you need to do this if you in this situation. I expect you to do this.’ It’s powerful when you can have that relationship on your team.”
If you can’t be real with someone you care about, who can you be real with?
“In Year 12, he pushed me more than anybody has,” Gilmore said. “It’s been good. He knows me. As you get older, you got to be smarter, take care of your body, lift a certain type of way. We definitely been pushing each other.”
Ask any Cowboys player about Cooks and Gilmore and they say the two are always helping. Tolbert said Cooks told him to cut out bacon and steak. Cornerback DaRon Bland, who led the NFL with nine interceptions, continues to eat steak but no bacon. He’s trying.
Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb dropped bacon and steak, and he enjoys a good steak. Cooks also had him switch to a different type of water.
“B-Cooks put me on,” Lamb said. “He came in and changed the culture in the room, not doing it on purpose. We know who he is and just seeing how he moves and we’re young and just watching him be a professional. Always the first one in the meeting room, always ready, always taking notes, always having us on Mountain Valley spring water.”
When the younger players on the team eat in The Star’s lunchroom, sometimes they seek the approval of their big brothers as to what’s on the plate.
“No bro, that’s bad for you, bro,” Gilmore will say to Tolbert or Bland.
“It rubs off on you,” Tolbert said. “I double-think about things I used to eat. Even steak. I talk to Gilley before a game and he says, ‘Bro that steak make you heavy. No bro. Eat salmon or chicken.’ ‘’
The relationship with Cooks and Gilmore has extended to their families. The Cooks and Gilmores share a luxury suite at AT&T Stadium.
When Gilmore’s son, 8-year-old Bash, goes to basketball practice, Cooks’ son, 3-year-old Maverick, is watching. A few weeks ago, Gilmore and Cooks brought their sons to The Star after a practice to hang out.
Cooks said he’s selective about who he allows to watch his kids. He trusts Gilmore’s family.
“It’s an honor,” Cooks said. “I take that seriously. I’d never take that lightly as a man.”
Both are having strong seasons. Cooks, 30, finished the regular season third on the team in catches (54) and yards (657) with eight touchdowns. Gilmore, 33, finished second on the team with 13 pass breakups and he also had two interceptions.
There is no dropoff from both players on or off the field. The respect each has in the locker room is strong.
“They’ve been huge,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “They’ve been vital. Really two guys that you just watch the way that they approach this game and you can say that’s enough to have them on your team. But then you watch the production that they put into this thing, the way that they coach other guys, the way that they lead. They’ve been huge, two guys that have been at winning programs.”
In a sport that rejects age at certain positions, Cooks and Gilmore are thriving. The people around them are noticing.
“They give each other ideas of taking care of the body,” Tolbert said, “to ‘Hey bro you need to try this, you need to eat.’ This a true brotherhood. Having a best friend like that in the game with you so long and I think that drives them forward to keep competing and keep working harder and harder off each other, especially since they play opposite of the ball. That’s a friendship a lot of people would want to have.”
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