Patriots trade WR Brandon Cooks to Rams

[NVRamsFan]

 

[areksoo]

1 hour ago, paul-mac said:

I just dreamed up this three team scenario:

 

Cleveland gets Odell Beckham

New York Giants get 23 and 31

New England get 4.

 

Giants get their two firsts for Odell, the Patriots get a cheap trade up into the top 5 and Cleveland gets to pair OBJ with Landry and Gordon to give Darnold some great firepower.

In an even trade a 23rd and a 31st pick is only worth a 9th pick at best.  But the Jets set the bar very high overpaying to get to the 3rd pick, so NE would be getting an astounding deal.  Even with Belichick's Jedi mind tricks, this will never happen.  Besides Buffalo is waving their 12th and 21st picks (and who knows what else) and nobody is biting.

[Forge]

4 minutes ago, NVRamsFan said:

 

For those scoring at home, this skill group is still a favorite to go back to the super bowl. 

[rudyZ]

1 hour ago, paul-mac said:

I just dreamed up this three team scenario:

 

Cleveland gets Odell Beckham

New York Giants get 23 and 31

New England get 4.

 

Giants get their two firsts for Odell, the Patriots get a cheap trade up into the top 5 and Cleveland gets to pair OBJ with Landry and Gordon to give Darnold some great firepower.

I don't get this trade... why would they even include the Pats? They could trade OBJ straight up for #4. Are you just including the Pats because you assume the Giants have to receive two first rounders? If the #4 is in play at all, if I'm the Giants, I forego the "we want two first rounders", and I take #4 instead. Two elite talents. Maybe they get their QB of the future and Barkley, or Chubb, or whoever. Maybe they even use #4 to trade down a few spots. Sure, they could still do a whole lot with 23 and 31, like probably pick-up a replacement for OBJ. But if I am them, I take #4. 

Either way, I don't think the browns should trade #4 for OBJ. Use it to build your team. 

[CKSteeler]

I don't see why the Pats would trade Cooks to get a draft pick that they'd then use to go after OBJ. If the Giants were going to trade OBJ, I'd think Cooks would be worth about the same as he was to St. Louis. That scenario is ludicrous.

[Supersuavesky]

35 minutes ago, bzane said:

Hi! @jrry32 and the other insider-knowledge Rams' fans out there. We had discussed in the middle of the season what was the matter with Sammy Watkins (under my exciting thread "What's Wrong With Sammy Watkins?")- why he never seems to live up to the enormous talent he was supposed to have. The Rams' fans gave some very good responses, pro and con, for which I am appreciative. It was a real education. Could I ask now, post-season, Sammy gone from the team, and now the Brandin Cooks acquisition, presumably to replace Sammy as the outside speed receiver- is there any other perspective on this? How come Sammy Watkins seems always to disappoint? And is Cooks a markedly-better WR?

That's the problem; It didn't make any sense.

 

There's one thing to say he didn't know the playbook but routes didn't seem to be the problem. He just seems to.... Disappear for long stretches. Goff spread the ball around pretty well for a young QB. If your open he can consistently find you but for some reason Watkins only flashed a few times. There were plays where you said 'That's what we were expecting from him' but they were too scattered to justify paying him big money.

[jrry32]

I'm torn on this one. Cooks is an incredible talent, but I hate losing a first. And we're stuck in another situation where we just acquired a walk-year WR. We better extend him quickly. The nice part is that Cooks has all off-season to learn the offense and build rapport with Goff.

[jrry32]

2 hours ago, HTTRG3Dynasty said:

Well, @jrry32 @stl4life07 @jjab360.  I guess McVay felt like he was missing that 4.4 speed deep threat after all .

Or McVay thinks Cooks has the skill-set to be a great all-around WR.

[Dr LBC]

2 hours ago, Forge said:

I think they are just where they want to be. 3 picks between 23 - 43 and another at 63? Isn't that the Pats' bread and butter and where BB likes to be? I'm sure one of those will definitely be a quarterback, but I don't see a need to move up for one. I'd expect Luke Falk, Kyle Lauletta or maybe even a Mason Rudolph somewhere in there. 

Actually, the last time (I think it might actually be the last two times) the Pats lost in a Super Bowl they traded up in the subsequent draft.  In fact, the last time they lost in a Super Bowl they went into the subsequent draft already with two 1st's (they had the Saints' pick from when the Saints traded back into the 1st for Mark Ingram the year prior) and they traded up from both of those 1st's.

I've considered the Pats a prime candidate to move up in the 1st for a while now; this pretty much cements it.

[jrry32]

2 hours ago, sdrawkcab321 said:

I’m skeptical of what LA is doing this offseason. Seems like when teams have these big offseason they don’t work out. 

This doesn't make sense. It's a superstition.

2 hours ago, OleXmad said:

Did the rams not learn their lesson last offseason with Watkins... 

No. We ended up with the #1 scoring offense. 

2 hours ago, BroncoSojia said:

Awful trade for the Rams. They could’ve kept Sammy Watkins and used that pick on a LB/EDGE player, which is a major need for them. 

Did you see what Sammy got paid? 

[MookieMonstah]

Patriots totally misused Cooks and he still played well. Pretty mad we gave up a 1st for him and then turned around and traded him for a 1st. Would've rather seen him continue to build chemistry with Brady but it does seem like we're getting ready for life without Brady/Bill.

[1ForTheThumb]

2 hours ago, HorizontoZenith said:

I honestly think it's a bad move for both teams.  The Rams are shooting themselves in the foot.  That's way too many big free agents hitting free agency in one year and way too much given up to attain them.  The Patriots realistically have two more years with Brady, and that's a very generous estimate.  Brady is not playing well enough at 43 for the Patriots to be a threat.  I don't care if he recycles his own farts into energy and has trained mice massage his muscles. 

Unless the Patriots are angling for ODB (an upgrade) or to move up for their QB of the future, I see this as having been a bad move for them, too.  Cooks had a wildly underrated year for them in his first year with the team.  Now they've got Edleman coming off a major injury (and he'll be 32 by the start of the season), Gronkowski flirting with retirement, and they just lost their left tackle.  That's a lot of holes to fill for them. 

How is this a bad move for the Patriots?

1) You think they would move Cooks if they really thought Gronk was retiring?

2) They got a year of Cooks on a cheap rookie deal, moved him a year later after picking up his option ($7.5M I believe) and then moved up in this years draft. He's likely going to be the best FA on the market next year. He's going to get a big deal. Probably not from the Rams, either.

3) Cooks is a good player. I liked him a lot, played tough and seemed like a high character guy. But I don't think it was as perfect as a fit the numbers indicate. He opened things up vertically sure and drew a lot of PI's. But it always felt like he and Brady weren't on the same page, he was very bad with the balls in his hand (YAC and awareness wise) and Brady got hit a ton when they had to run a more vertical offense than they historically had. That's not all on Cooks; I think this offense would have been historical had Edelman not gone down. 

4) Patriots offense will be fine without Cooks. Still plenty of pass catchers.

"That's a lot of holes to fill for them"- You know how you fill holes?

Also, I know you blatantly reach to discredit the Patriots and Belichick anyway possible, but if you're going to crap on the Chandler Jones trade, at least post the correct trade. It was Thuney + Mitchell for Jones. Hardly a terrible move for Belichick. They were never going to give Chandler Jones that contract.

[stl4life07]

2 hours ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

I don't get why the Rams didn't just sign Watkins, they definitely could afford him now and I'm sure ship him off in a few years when they need more room if he disappoints? I'm probably in the minority but Cooks is only a marginally better WR at this juncture. If they wanted a speedster on the outside, I think sticking with Sammy would have been wiser. Give Goff time to build a repertoire with his WRs.

The Rams offered Watkins close to what KC did but he just chose to go to KC. It’s not like the Rams didn’t want him, he wanted to leave the Rams and follow the extra money. 

[Jakuvious]

Hm. The Rams kind of lose me on this one. I've mostly been down with their offseason so far. All of their moves have mostly just featured throwing money (which they've had more than enough of for the next ~2 years to do) at free agents. It's had something of an all-in mentality to it, but it's easily reversible and doesn't have to cost them anything long term if they don't want (Joyner franchised, Talib 1 year, Suh 1 year, etc.) All they gave up something they can't really get back for is Peters, but he's young enough that that makes sense. And I can approve of the all-in approach if it isn't all-in now at the cost of the future. But this move feels more like that. Trading a 1st for one of those one year contract guys seems to be mortgaging the future a little bit (not a lot, but still.) You forfeit a 1st for a guy who either only stays one year, or gets really expensive after one year. All the other moves they've made didn't really carry much of a long term downside. But this one does one way or another, be it the loss of a young prospect, or the money Cooks will command, or the hold he'll leave when he's gone combined with the loss of a young prospect. This one I just don't like as much. It seems more desperate. I don't feel like they'll regret signing Suh or trading for Peters even if this season doesn't pan out, but I have to imagine you regret this move if you don't win a championship this year.

[RuskieTitan]

3 hours ago, Forge said:

So wait...the Pats trade pick 32 and 15 spot swap of picks in the 3rd / 4th round to the Saints for Brandin Cooks on the last year of his rookie deal making less than 800K with a second year of team control. Cooks' salary is now 8.5 million, no additional years left of team control without the franchise tag, and somehow his value appreciated based the value between 32 and 23 being higher than the difference between 103 to 118 last year + a 4th for a 6th this year. 

Well let's take a look at the franchise results for the New England Patriots and St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams over the past decade and a half: