N/S Brandin Cooks traded to Rams

Cooks has:
- elite speed
- elite ball tracking skills
- elite hands

Cooks lacks:
- field vision in traffic
- wiggle
- ability to get separation (other than getting behind a defender)
- ability to shake or break tackles

He's an elite threat. Nothing more, nothing less. When we drafted him, I believe we thought he either was more than that, or could turn into more than that. He wasn't and he didn't.

When the Patriots gave us their first round pick for him, I think 2 things were in play. First, I believe they thought they could really use that deep threat element to put their offense over the top. It could be that they thought there was a good chance they could get that 1st round pick back from us if the draft played out a certain way. It didn't, but he really did add to that offense. And for the dollar amount they were paying him, it was a bargain. But they did come up short in that trade.

Now the Rams trade the #23 pick for Cooks and his one year 8 million dollar contract. Again, I think 2 things are at play in this. Sean McVay is a young coach who just had an amazing season. He's wanting to plug every hole, every loss his team suffered, with an elite player who has proven he can remedy those lacks. Also, there's the "make a team work in LA" factor. McVay could simply have made a few smart but not phenomenal roster tweaks, got his team in back in the playoffs this season, and stood as good a chance as anybody at winning it all. And maybe by the end of the season, there'd be 40k fans in the stands at their home games. Or he can bring in Peters, Talib, Suh, and Cooks... Big names, Hollywood big... and have those 40k fans there for their home opener, and even more by the end of the season, if those big names look like they're going to produce championship results. I think the Rams lost that particular trade, badly.

The Patriots had that elite deep threat specialist for a year on a very cheap contract... then got their draft pick back plus a little interest. Smart football planning and luck all at the same time. Very Belichicky.

So just how much is an elite deep threat specialist worth? 3 first round picks... but pretty cheap money-wise. :D