Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports is hearing that the Titans may now be the “front runners” to trade for Saints WR Brandin Cooks.
Reports from the past week have mentioned the Titans, Eagles and Patriots as teams with interest in a potential Cooks trade.
This past weekend, Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune, citing two sources with knowledge of the negotiations, reported that at least five teams have inquired about a trade for Cooks including the Titans, Eagles and Patriots.
Katzenstein added that the Patriots offered the Saints the No. 32 overall pick as part of a trade package for Cooks, but New Orleans is looking for a pick in the middle of the first round.
Other teams have reported offered the Saints a second-round pick for Cooks, which obviously isn’t going to get a deal done.
It has come as a surprise to many that the Saints are fielding trade offers for Cooks, but they appear to be comfortable moving forward with their other receivers and acquiring some draft picks to continue building their defense.
Cooks, 23, is a former first-round pick of the Saints back in 2014. He’s entering the final year of his four-year, $8.4 million contract and stands to make a base salary of $781,599 for the 2017 season.
New Orleans will have to decide whether to pick up his fifth-year option in the coming months.
According to OverTheCap.com, trading Cooks would free up $1,563,198 of available cap space while creating $1,104,264 in dead money.
In 2016, Cooks appeared in 16 games for the Saints and caught 78 passes for 1,173 yards receiving and eight touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 28 receiver out of 115 qualifying players.
We’ll have more regarding a potential Cooks trade as the news is available.
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