SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers are adding veteran help for their injury depleted wide receiver room by agreeing to a deal to sign Brandin Cooks to the practice squad.
A person familiar with the deal said Tuesday that the team reached the agreement to add Cooks. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the signing hadn't been announced by the team.
ESPN first reported the deal.
The Niners needed help at receiver after key contributor Demarcus Robinson went down with a high ankle injury in Sunday's win over Miami. Robinson is expected to miss at least a few weeks and could go on injured reserve.
San Francisco also lost projected starter Ricky Pearsall to season-ending knee surgery in training camp and rookie De'Zhaun Stribling to an ankle injury in the opener that is expected to sideline him for about two months.
Cooks, who turns 33 on Friday, spent last season with New Orleans and Buffalo, making 24 catches for 279 yards in 15 games. He became a free agent in March and hadn't signed with any team before committing to the 49ers.
The 49ers already have a veteran offense and became the first team in 22 years to start five non-quarterback skill players who are 30 or older in the same game in the win against the Dolphins.
The old guys have produced so far with Mike Evans, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Kyle Juszczyk and Robinson all catching TD passes the first two games. Also, 30-year-old running back Christian McCaffrey has rushed for two scores.
The 2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the only team in NFL history to have six players 30 or older catch a touchdown pass in the same season, a record that could be broken by San Francisco if Cooks and McCaffrey do it.
Cooks is one of two players in NFL history, along with Brandon Marshall, to have at least 1,000 yards receiving in a season with four teams. Cooks did it twice with New Orleans, and once each with the Los Angeles Rams, New England and Houston.
He has 734 catches for 9,811 yards and 60 touchdowns. He needs 189 yards to become the sixth active player with at least 10,000 yards receiving in a career.
The 49ers have an open spot on the practice squad and won't need to make a corresponding move when they officially add Cooks.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
FILE - Buffalo Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks catches a pass during the first half of an NFL divisional round playoff football game against the Denver Broncos, Jan. 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Donald Trump Jr. used his proximity to the presidency for financial benefit, after his recent wedding party was partially bankrolled by a Russian oligarch.
In a letter sent Tuesday, Curtis called on the committee to subpoena Trump Jr. over his business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts or other benefits he has received and any instances in which his relationship to President Donald Trump, a Republican, “was invoked or understood to provide value.” Curtis called for the same scrutiny of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president,” Curtis wrote in the letter addressed to GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the committee, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel.
The request by Curtis, a freshman senator who does not sit on the Judiciary committee, was a rare criticism of Trump's family as most Republican lawmakers have stayed clear of weighing in on the president's son. Grassley told reporters on Tuesday that he would have to gather more facts before deciding whether to investigate, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he did not “have an observation on that.”
Still, the letter comes as a few Republicans have shown a recent willingness to criticize Trump's policies after largely avoiding public breaks with Trump during much of his second term. The unpopular war in Iran, high gas prices and mounting concerns about the GOP’s prospects in November’s midterm elections have brought increased scrutiny of the president from within his own party.
At least two Republican members of the Judiciary panel said they would support an investigation. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who is retiring, said he would have no problem with a probe of the wedding events, which he said showed “colossally bad judgment at best.”
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican who lost his seat in a primary earlier this year after Trump endorsed his opponent, said that Grassley wants to do “due diligence” but “I would support Sen. Curtis's request.”
ProPublica first reported last week that Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, helped pay to rent a private island and for a fireworks show when Trump Jr. and socialite Bettina Anderson were married in the Bahamas in May.
In a subsequent post on her Instagram page signed by the couple, Bettina Trump wrote that Kremlev, head of the International Boxing Association, was a “dear friend” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.”
The president, who did not attend his son's wedding, defended Kremlev's involvement but said the money would be paid back.
Grassley said he wasn't yet familiar with the facts of the case.
“I’m going to take these requests seriously and sit down with staff and see what we can do,” Grassley said, adding that “it takes time, and if you were going to ask me when we're going to have a hearing, there’s no way I could answer that today.”
Curtis, first elected to the Senate in 2024, vowed upon taking office not to shy away from disagreeing with Trump. He has publicly broken with the president several times since, including rejecting Trump’s calls to eliminate the Senate filibuster. In a July Wall Street Journal op-ed, Curtis wrote that “under no circumstance” would he support efforts to end or alter the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the 100-member chamber.
Curtis' criticism involving Trump’s son goes beyond those policy disagreements. Curtis last Friday called the gift “corruption” and vowed to say more in the coming days.
“A Russian oligarch paid for a lavish wedding after-party for Donald Trump Jr., which to me just stinks. It’s corruption. I don’t like it,” Curtis said in a video posted on social media.
On Tuesday, Curtis wrote on social media that Republicans “nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships” and that they “should not unplug it now.”
Any congressional committee can launch an investigation at any time. In 2017, Grassley launched a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, including a meeting that Trump Jr. held with Russians in 2016. The panel has also conducted multiple investigations of Hunter Biden.
Durbin said in a statement that Curtis had made a “good faith request.”
“For the Committee to ignore this matter is to run the risk of being complicit in a coverup. I will join in supporting Senator Curtis’ request,” Durbin said.
Hunter Biden defended himself in a post on X, saying that he has already given “more than seven hours of sworn testimony.”
“I’ll sit next to Don Jr. and testify any time, any place,” he said.
Grassley worked alongside House Republicans in 2023 and 2024 to investigate whether Hunter Biden used his father’s name and political position to benefit his business dealings with foreign interests. The Biden family dismissed the investigations as politically motivated and denied any wrongdoing.
The GOP effort culminated in a report accusing Joe Biden of participating in a conspiracy to use his public office to enrich his family. But the House never voted on articles of impeachment against him.
“‘Trust us’ was not enough then, and it is not enough now,” Curtis wrote.
Democrats have foreshadowed plans to investigate Trump and his family if they win control of Congress in November, with particular scrutiny on the family’s financial interests. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement that the revelations surrounding Trump Jr.'s wedding “may be the most serious allegation against you to date.”
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., right, with committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks, during an oversight hearing to examine the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FILE - Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, walks through the Capitol during votes in Washington, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert, File)
FILE - Donald Trump Jr., speaks with his wife Bettina, left, as they wait for President Donald Trump to deliver remarks to U.S. embassy staff at Deerfield Residence in Dublin, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
