Brandin Cooks Notes: Rams, Patriots, Giants

April 4, 2018

Rams

Peter King of TheMMQB.com reports that trade talks between the Rams and Patriots regarding WR Brandin Cooks rekindled when Sean McVay and Bill Belichick talked at the University of Georgia football coaches clinic late last week.

According to King, the Rams had already had their first-round pick on the table for Cooks, but it was the other picks that needed to be worked out in order to complete the trade. King says that the Rams had been asking for the Patriots’ better fourth-round pick, but ultimately decided to take New England’s compensatory pick.

“When it got finalized,” Rams GM Les Snead tells King, “you had a very happy head coach and offensive play-caller [McVay] in our offices—and you know that they are one and the same.”

Last year, the Rams attempted to trade for Cooks before the Saints dealt him to the Patriots for a first-round pick.

“At that time we didn’t have a first-round pick and New England did, and that made all the difference,” Snead said. “We discussed [cornerback] Trumaine Johnson with New Orleans, but we could not trump New England’s one.”

While the Rams were interested in Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr, it would have cost them two first-round picks and around $20 million per year to re-sign him long-term.
King guesses that it will cost the Rams close to $17 million per year to get Cooks contract long-term and he thinks there’s a “good chance” they’re able to get something done.
Ian Rapoport reports that the Rams tried to trade CB Trumaine Johnson to the Saints twice last year with one deal being for a second-round pick and the other being for Cooks.
According to Rapoport, Cooks and QB Jared Goff have already been throwing together this offseason and building a rapport.
Rapoport adds that Los Angeles believes Cooks is more of an impact player than they could have got at No. 23 overall and they still have eight draft picks, including four in the top 136 to work with.

Patriots

While some have speculated the Patriots could package some of their draft picks to trade up for a quarterback in round one, King doubts they’ll part with all of this to get one of the top quarterbacks. Instead, King believes they will stand Pat and take a second-tier quarterback such as Lamar Jackson or Mason Rudolph.
As for Brandin Cooks, King reports that the Patriots attempted to re-sign Cooks, but it became problematic because they didn’t view him as being worth $15-17 million a year and it likely would have created issues with TE Rob Gronkowski.
King considers the idea of the Patriots trading for Odell Beckham Jr. to be a “preposterous notion.“
Ian Rapoport reports that the Patriots didn’t see Cooks as a true No. 1 receiver and Tom Brady is not unhappy about the move. According to Rapoport, despite the numbers he put up, Cooks wasn’t a great fit in New England.
Regarding Gronkowski, Rapoport reports that the Patriots have had no talks about trading him and the expectation is that they will keep him.

Giants

As for the Giants, King says that new HC Pat Shurmur was likely thrilled to see the Cooks trade go down Tuesday night because he’s looking forward to making Odell Beckham Jr. a centerpiece of their offense.
King believes there’s “very little chance” of the Giants dropping the asking price for Beckham in order to move him in a trade.
According to Ian Rapoport, the Rams were interested in Beckham, but the combination of the trade compensation and future extension made the price exorbitant.