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Texans trade for WR Brandin Cooks

Texansfan713

By Texansfan713
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HoboRocket

HoboRocket

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1 hour ago, jrry32 said:

You sold Gurley way short in the passing game. By the numbers, he was the best pass blocking HB in 2017 and 2018, IIRC. He was an absolute stud in that regard and is still quite good. Likewise, in his prime with McVay, he was a great receiving HB. He wasn't just a great checkdown target. He could split out at wide receiver and had to be respected. And he made a number of plays down the field coming out of the backfield. If DJ was a better receiver, it wasn't by a lot. And I'd have taken Gurley over anybody in pass protection. But since his knee injury, Gurley has not played well as a receiver. The concentration and hands don't seem to be there, and I got the feeling McVay didn't want him running routes. Might have been related to the knee and lateral agility. So yes, Johnson is the superior player now in the passing game. But I can't agree he was the superior player before Gurley's injury. Gurley was every bit as good.

Johnson was the best receiving RB in the NFL before CMC emerged. He was literally used as the Cardinals' #1 WR over Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, and Michael Floyd for long stretches while healthy. And trust me. I'm a Gurley fanboy, Jrry. I know you're a big-time Rams fan, too. One of the top Rams posters on this site. You've probably seen every single Rams game over the past several years, at least. 

I have the advantage of having seen every single Rams and Cardinals game from 2014 to present. Gurley was the best offensive weapon in the NFL from the day he was drafted until about week 14 or 15 in 2018. DJ has ALWAYS been a better 3rd-down back than Gurley, though. That's not a knock on Gurley - his 10+ yard per reception average in 2017, his highlight reel 70-yard receiving TD with the hurdle, and his overall production PROVE that Gurley was a top-10 receiving back, probably top-5, at his peak. Like I said - he was lethal on angle routes, catching screens, running swings, wheel routes, flares. And yes, he could be split to the slot or out wide and have success there on occasion.

But David Johnson was a different beast. Watch some Cardinals games where Johnson played from 2015 through 2018, or, if you don't have the time, read articles from the time. People literally before the 2017 draft said that CMC and Alvin Kamara were great receivers, but were unsure if they were on David Johnson's level. Johnson is the one who dethroned Le'Veon Bell from being the RB/WR darling of the NFL. He was unreal, and last year for Kyler Murray, he wasn't on the level that he was before the repeated injuries, but he was still arguably their best short-yardage and red zone target last season (though Gurley himself is the league's biggest red zone weapon).

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jrry32

jrry32

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2 minutes ago, HoboRocket said:

Johnson was the best receiving RB in the NFL before CMC emerged. He was literally used as the Cardinals' #1 WR over Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, and Michael Floyd for long stretches while healthy. And trust me. I'm a Gurley fanboy, Jrry. I know you're a big-time Rams fan, too. One of the top Rams posters on this site. You've probably seen every single Rams game over the past several years, at least. 

I have the advantage of having seen every single Rams and Cardinals game from 2014 to present. Gurley was the best offensive weapon in the NFL from the day he was drafted until about week 14 or 15 in 2018. DJ has ALWAYS been a better 3rd-down back than Gurley, though. That's not a knock on Gurley - his 10+ yard per reception average in 2017, his highlight reel 70-yard receiving TD with the hurdle, and his overall production PROVE that Gurley was a top-10 receiving back, probably top-5, at his peak. Like I said - he was lethal on angle routes, catching screens, running swings, wheel routes, flares. And yes, he could be split to the slot or out wide and have success there on occasion.

But David Johnson was a different beast. Watch some Cardinals games where Johnson played from 2015 through 2018, or, if you don't have the time, read articles from the time. People literally before the 2017 draft said that CMC and Alvin Kamara were great receivers, but were unsure if they were on David Johnson's level. Johnson is the one who dethroned Le'Veon Bell from being the RB/WR darling of the NFL. He was unreal, and last year for Kyler Murray, he wasn't on the level that he was before the repeated injuries, but he was still arguably their best short-yardage and red zone target last season (though Gurley himself is the league's biggest red zone weapon).

I routinely watched Johnson in his prime. I evaluated him coming out of college at Northern Iowa where he was actually a better receiver than runner in my opinion. But Gurley in 2017 was on that level. He was doing it all. He was still damn good in 2018 too. As I said, I could see giving DJ the edge as a pure receiver because he was more refined as a route runner and could run a more diverse route tree, but Gurley was the better pass protector. And Gurley could still do anything and everything as a receiver you could possibly want from a HB. He just wasn't like Marshall Faulk or CMC where he could literally play WR and still be a quality starter there (at least, he couldn't have done that immediately). Unfortunately, I don't know if we'll ever see that Gurley again. Stupid bum knee.

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Texans02

Texans02

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Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, TheGame316 said:

Trades DHop for a guy with negative value (Johnson) and a 2nd

Trades the 2nd for a guy with negative value (Cooks)

And Cooks makes more than DHop, the guy he traded because he didn't want to pay him.....

This guy gets it.

But just to be clear, BOB traded DHop for a negative value RB AND a negative value 4th round pick swap. The two negative value returns could arguably justify the 2nd rounder w/o DHop. Meaning he valued a potential HOF WR in his prime as a throw-in. It's mind-blowing.

 

20 hours ago, Flounch said:

With a little imagination, we could have proposed Gurley + Cooks for Hopkins :D

And if you could chose, what would you prefer, Cooks + Johnson or Cooks + Gurley ? 

I feel like this is asking if I'd rather be served a dinner covered in broken glass or barbed wire. I'd choose to fire the cook, preferably into the sun if possible.

Edited by Texans02
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Texansfan713

Texansfan713

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3 hours ago, Elky said:

Is Brandin Cooks seriously with worth 3 firsts (the original pick used by NOLA, the first we gave them and the first LAR gave us) AND a second rounder?

the 1st time he was since he was still on his rookie contract.  now that he got paid he and the season he coming off of he definitely not worth a 2nd. 

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43M

43M

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I still cant believe this.

Bad moves/deals happen all the time in this league and even the better front offices are guilty of it at points, but the combination of trading a top 3 WR for a 2nd round value and then trading a 2nd for a lesser, more expensive WR just baffles me in every conceivable way.

Bill O'Brien gives all of us hope that we could be GM's in the NFL.   Not necessarily GOOD GM's, but you cant really do much worse than this.

 

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