Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that Patriots’ decision to trade WR Brandin Cooks to the Rams on Tuesday is not a precursor to New England attempting to acquire Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr.
Instead, La Canfora says that New England won’t be involved in the market for Beckham.
Adam Schefter mentioned that the Patriots now have two picks in the first and second rounds of the draft, which means they’re now in prime position to trade up for a quarterback if they choose to go that route, so that’s something to keep an eye on later this month.
La Canfora agrees that New England could use their late-round picks to move up and possibly land a quarterback of the future.
Based on the Patriots’ history, it was unlikely they were going to be willing to pay top dollar for Cooks next year, considering that he could end up securing as much as $14 million per year on the open market.
This deal keeps all of their options open moving forward and means that they will be relying on Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan and Rob Gronkowski among others this season.
As for the Giants and Beckham Jr, it remains to be seen just how serious they are about trading him. The Rams were clearly the team to watch for a potential Beckham trade, but the Cooks deal clearly takes them out of the running.
New York could ultimately decide to hold onto Beckham, barring a big offer from another team, and see how things go in 2018.
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