FRISCO
Team bonding, team fun.
Team, what the hell is going on?
Whatever it was, trust that the viral video of Dallas Cowboys receiver Brandin Cooks piloting a small plane with All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback Stephen Gilmore along for the ride, won’t happen again.
At least, not during the 2023 season.
Cooks and his teammates had fun.
Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones was not amused.
“One thing I want to do is chastise Cooks for getting in that airplane with the best part of the team and flying up there with him,’’ Jones said. “I was glad I didn’t know that was going on. I would have to tell him part-time pilots, in my mind, are not the way to go.’’
Cooks gets it, though he has yet to speak to Jones about it.
“I haven’t seen him yet, but if I was him, I’d feel the same way,’’ Cooks said. “He’s got a lot of money invested in the guys in that plane.’’
Cooks has also invested a lot of time in learning how to fly.
He lives in the Pacific Northwest in the offseason and got his pilot’s license two years ago.
He has logged more than 250 hours in the air.
But he was also careful with his teammates.
“I don’t want people freaking out like me and the boys were the only one on there,’’ Cooks said. “We had a veteran pilot with us.’’
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy couldn’t remember exactly what he said when he saw the viral video of Cooks, Gilmore and Parsons in a Cirrus 22 Turbo plane flying over Seattle’s Lumen Field in the afternoon before Saturday’s 22-14 loss to the Seahawks.
“First thing, he told me he has a parachute,’’ McCarthy said. “So that gave me some confidence.’’
“Obviously, I don’t know about taking the whole crew up there with you,’’ McCarthy added while laughing. “But I mean, Brandin is someone you definitely trust.”
Cooks acknowledged the obvious about the flight.
“We had fun,’’ he said.
You can also trust that Cooks got the “no fly zone” message from the Cowboys loud and clear.
“That was probably the last flight of the year,’’ Cooks said. “I’d obviously never do anything like that during the regular season. We’ll get back to it after February.”
After the Super Bowl, perhaps?
This story was originally published August 23, 2023 5:36 AM.
