Patriots Trade Cooks to Rams, Pick Up Another First-Round Pick

Brandin Cooks had one of the more interesting first seasons for a new Patriots receiver. He put up over 1,000 yards on 65 catches with seven touchdowns, yet there was still debate if Cooks was everything Patriots fans expected him to be. After all, these same fans had been complaining about the lack of a deep threat since Belichick traded away Randy Moss, and yet now Cooks is gone after just one season, traded to the Rams for a first round pick, while also swapping a fourth-rounder down to a sixth rounder.

Patriots are trading WR Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round pick to LA Rams for the 23rd overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft and a sixth-round pick, league sources told ESPN.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 3, 2018

The Pats’ picks are now:

1.23 (LAR)
1.31
2.43 (SF)
2.63
3.95
6.TBD (LAR)
6.210
7.219

That’s plenty of ammo to move up and down the draft board to give a much-needed influx of talent in necessary spots such as left tackle, linebacker and defensive end. Just for fun, based on the draft value chart the Patriots could get all the way up to ninth overall with a package of the 23rd and 31st pick. But I doubt they’ll do that.

The trade of Cooks isn’t a total shocker and re-allocates some capital into the first round of the draft.They’ve made just two first-round picks in the last five years, and only Malcom Brown is still on the roster. Now, with two first rounders the Pats look ready to do some damage. It will also open up more cap space, with @Patscap currently having their number at $14.7 million.

The difference in available talent between 23 and 31 is huge, especially because this is the area a lot of the best tackle prospects start to go off the board in most mock drafts. This could also put them in play for one of the first-round talents at linebacker.

As for the wide receiver position they were already stacked and can pretty easily absorb the loss of Cooks, especially if Malcolm Mitchell and Julian Edelman return healthy. Kenny Britt, Philip Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson are all experienced NFL players, any of whom could take a big leap in 2018 as the Pats’ fourth receiver. But there’s no mistake that the offense will need to find a way to replace the production of Danny Amendola and Cooks.

The most interesting thing to me is how despite the fanfare of having deep threats, the Patriots continue to exploit their value whenever possible, but not truly valuing them in their offense. If anything was clear in 2018 it was that the offense far more hurt by the absence of Edelman than it benefitted because of the addition of Cooks “stretching the field”.

Brady needs the scalpel, a precision attack that attacks short and intermediate. The deep throws are pretty and in crunch time often effective but they’re not the engine of this offense. Finding the next Edelman and a replacement for Amendola who can fit into that slot receiver, a quick-open role is just as vital now as it was before Cooks was sent to LA.