Rams continue to load up, trade Patriots for receiver Brandin Cooks
The Los Angeles Rams aren’t being shy about acquiring talent this offseason.
The most active team of this offseason has grabbed another star. The Rams traded the New England Patriots for receiver Brandin Cooks, the second time Cooks has been traded since the end of the 2016 season. Cooks didn’t come cheap: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Rams send their first- and sixth-round picks to New England for Cooks and a fourth-round pick. The Rams’ first-round pick is No. 23 overall.
That move has ramifications elsewhere in the trade market. The Rams won’t be trading for New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham, which was a popular landing spot for Beckham in trade rumors. Schefter also said the Patriots won’t be trading tight end Rob Gronkowski now that they’ve traded away Cooks, one of Tom Brady’s favorite targets last season.
Cooks fit in just fine with the Patriots last season, posting 1,082 yards and seven touchdowns. New England traded a first-round pick to the New Orleans Saints last offseason for Cooks. The former first-round pick has 1,000 yards in three of his four NFL seasons. He joins a Rams team that lost receiver Sammy Watkins in free agency, but has added elsewhere. The team has acquired defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters in a busy offseason. The Rams will be a very popular pick to win this season’s Super Bowl. Expectations will be sky high.
The Patriots haven’t been nearly as aggressive this offseason. They’re not loading up for a one-year run, as they seemed to do last year, but have a pair of first-round picks and a pair of second-round picks in this draft. They could use those for an infusion of young talent, or as Schefter speculated, to move up in the first-round to take a quarterback to eventually succeed Brady. They have options.
The NFL trade market has been hotter than ever this offseason. The Rams seem to be in on every key player being discussed. You’d think acquiring Cooks would be their last big splash, but it’s hard to rule anything out in this crazy Rams offseason.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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