Dallas Cowboys' Brandin Cooks Flying Above Competition
NFL players have always had wild hobbies, but the Dallas Cowboys’ Brandin Cooks found a hobby that is literally on a higher plane.
"Got in the air," Cooks told ESPN recently, "I fell in love."
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Back in 2014, Cooks was drafted by the New Orleans Saints. Then teammate All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham had already gotten his pilot’s license and took Cooks up in his single-engine plane to show him the Superdome from above. That's what his love story with flying began.
Cooks went about the grueling lesson plans and classes to obtain his license and learn as much as he could about it. Once he got his license, he got as much air time as possible.
Several of his Cowboy’s teammates have flown with him including Micah Parsons and Stephone Gilmore who flew with him during the preseason last year. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones wasn’t exactly happy about it.
"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 them, looking around Seattle," Jones said. "Boy, I'm glad I didn't know that was going on. But I would have to tell him part-time pilots, in my mind, are not the way to go."
Cooks found out about Jones’ comments and spoke to him directly to reassure him that even though he is comfortable piloting by himself, out of respect and concern, they did have a co-pilot on the trip.
Cooks is in love with flying and traveling with his family.
"Definitely football has catapulted me to be able to do a lot of these things, so I'm definitely fortunate and blessed in that aspect," Cooks said. "But a kid from Stockton, California, has seen the world and is continuing to see the world. And I think when you really wrap your head around that, it's like, 'How can you not be inspired to travel?' You know what I mean?
"It's awesome."
You can bet that once his career is over, he and his family will spend an awful lot more time seeing this beautiful country through the air.