NFL Rumors: Patriots’ Brandin Cooks To Rams In Trade For First-Round Draft Pick, Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter
On Tuesday night, the NFL rumors heated up with reports of a New England Patriots trade. Later it was indicated that the Pats had traded their wide receiver, Brandin Cooks. The beneficiaries of Cooks will be the Los Angeles Rams, a team that continues to be quite active this offseason. Here are the latest details on the Cooks trade and what the Patriots are getting in exchange.
The trade speculation was first reported by ESPN’s NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Tuesday. Schefter tweeted that the Patriots would be sending Brandin Cooks to the Los Angeles Rams along with a fourth-round pick. In exchange, New England receives a first-round pick from the Rams, as well as a sixth-round draft pick. Schefter indicated that league sources told ESPN of the trade, which gives Cooks his second new team in as many seasons.
The 24-year-old wide receiver was traded by the New Orleans Saints to the New England Patriots just a season ago in exchange for the 32nd overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. As a member of the Patriots, Cooks played in all 16 games last season, tallying 65 receptions for 1,082 yards and seven touchdowns. In his previous three seasons with the Saints, Cooks had 2,861 yards and 20 touchdowns on 215 receptions.
? TRADE ALERT?@brandincooks is headed to the @RamsNFL ? pic.twitter.com/zVw7Us5pYh
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) April 3, 2018
Tuesday’s trade by the Los Angeles Rams has been yet another move made by the NFC team during their busy offseason. Other moves have included the signing of defensive players Ndamukong Suh and Sam Shields as well as trades for the Denver Broncos’ Aqib Talib and Kansas City Chiefs’ Marcus Peters. The latest move was said to help out their offense, providing a “big threat” option for the team.
Since receiver Sammy Watkins left for the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent, it led to the Rams exploring their options to add another receiving threat on the field for quarterback Jared Goff. A previous trade was said to have been explored for the New York Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr., but the Rams liked the Cooks option better.
As ESPN reported, the acquisition of the Rams’ draft picks gives New England the No. 23 and 31 picks in the first round, as well as the No. 43 and 63 in the second round. They also have the No. 95 pick in the third round as well as two sixth-round picks and a seventh-round pick as they look to try to add some assets or talented players in a time when their top stars are aging and getting closer to retirement.
