Current Los Angeles Rams and former New England Patriots wide receiver Brandin Cooks is having a phenomenal start to 2018. Through four games, Cooks has 26 receptions for 452 yards and a touchdown, serving as the top passing option in arguably the best offense in football. New England’s wide receivers, meanwhile, have combined for a grand total of 230 receiving yards while the offense has struggled all season long to consistently move the ball.
Seeing Cooks light up the stat sheet while the Patriots struggle to move the ball has led some to question the trade which sent Cooks to the Rams in the first place. However, even with the benefit of hindsight, trading Brandin Cooks away was the right move for the New England Patriots.
Why the New England Patriots Traded Brandin Cooks
The Wide Receiver Depth Chart in April
While the Patriots have arguably the weakest wide receiver grouping in the league, that certainly wasn’t the case in April. At the time of the Cooks trade, the Patriots expected Julian Edelman to return to the field and had a strong depth chart comprised of Cooks, Malcolm Mitchell, Jordan Matthews, Kenny Britt, Phillip Dorsett, Chris Hogan, and Cordarrelle Patterson. Additionally, the Patriots added Braxton Berrios as their sixth-round draft pick.
It’s crazy to think about now, but people were wondering why the Patriots had as many receivers as they did. Had the Patriots entered the season with this grouping, the wide receiver position would not be an issue. However, several forces outside of team control decimated the positional depth.
The first blow came when Edelman received a four-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. Making matters worse, the Patriots lost Mitchell, Matthews, Britt, and Berrios to season-ending injuries. Astonishingly, only Dorsett, Patterson, and Hogan made it healthy to the regular season.
Injuries are an inevitable part of football, but this wave of injuries is nothing short of absurd. Counting Edelman’s suspension, the Patriots lost five of their top eight receivers before the season even began. It’s simply impossible to plan for that much bad luck. Had even two or three of those guys made it to Week One, we’re probably not having this conversation.
Despite the strong grouping at the time, it’s not like Cooks didn’t have a role. Cooks had one of the best first-year campaigns during the Brady/Belichick Era and likely would have seen a similar workload. However, there were several other factors which led to the Patriots dealing the speedy wideout.
A Fantastic Return on Investment
The biggest reason the Patriots made the trade is because of the fantastic value they got in return. Many people act as if the Patriots received nothing from the Cooks trade, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In exchange for one year of Cooks, the Patriots received the 23rd overall pick in the NFL Draft.
That pick turned into Isaiah Wynn, who is currently on the injured reserve after tearing his Achilles in the preseason. While Wynn won’t contribute to the 2018 team, there’s no way to predict injury. Wynn stayed healthy throughout the majority of his college tenure, he just got unlucky during the preseason.
Even with Wynn’s injury, the Patriots will have a potential franchise left tackle for three seasons, and all it took was one year of a wide receiver. When you factor in the financial savings from Wynn being on his rookie deal, that’s still a trade you make every time.
Cap Management
Upon trading for Brandin Cooks, the Rams signed the speedy wide receiver to a massive five-year, $80 million extension. While his cap hit decreased in 2018, his 2019 and 2020 cap hits are $15.26 million and $16.8 million, respectively. Quite simply, the Patriots could not afford to sign Cooks to this massive extension.
As it is, the Patriots have several key players such as Trey Flowers, Julian Edelman, Tom Brady, and Rob Gronkowski set to hit free agency by 2019. It will be hard enough to bring those guys back as is, and it would be impossible to do so if they also had Cooks and his massive contract on the books.
Even if the Patriots let Cooks play out his final year, they’d still have a hard time fitting his 2018 cap hit onto the roster. Prior to signing his extension, Cooks carried an $8.5 million cap hit in 2018. As of this moment, New England currently has $2,686,650 in available cap space, per @patscap.
Had the Patriots held on to Cooks’ contract, they would currently be $5,813,350 over the allowable salary cap. As it is, this team has depth issues at linebacker, running back, safety, and defensive end. That problem would be compounded had they kept Cooks, as they would have had to make corresponding moves to get under the cap.
While making such moves would have been difficult, it would not have been impossible. If New England truly believes Cooks could be a true top receiver, they would have found a way to make it work. However, they didn’t do that, simply because they didn’t believe Cooks could be a bona fide star in this offense. The question now becomes, were the Patriots right?
Cooks Fit In New England
Brandin Cooks was a solid wide receiver during his first year in New England. That said, he was no superstar. New England has historically been reluctant to hand out big contracts to players who are just good, but not great. As long as he stayed in New England’s system, Cooks would have only been good, not great.
In a perfect world, the Patriots offense would be centered around a short, quick passing game which then sets up the deep throw. While Cooks is adequate in the intermediate area, he thrives as a deep threat. With New England not taking that many deep shots per game, Cooks ceiling with the Patriots was somewhat limited. The Los Angeles Rams and head coach Sean McVay run an offense entirely dependent on deep shots, so Cooks is a better fit in Los Angeles.
Additionally, Cooks showed that he wasn’t capable of carrying the Patriots offense during the second half of 2017. With just about every wide receiver injured, Cooks constantly matched up against the opposing defenders best cornerback. With nobody else to take the focus off him, Cooks struggled in the final weeks of 2017.
From Weeks 13 to 16, Cooks recorded just nine receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown despite seeing 22 targets. The Patriots needed Cooks to be a true WR1, and he wasn’t up for the task. While Cooks is certainly a good player, this rough end of the season showed he would never be capable of being a true top receiver while in New England.
Last Word on Brandin Cooks
Brandin Cooks is having a phenomenal year with the Rams, and the Patriots wide receivers aren’t getting the job done. That said, sending Brandin Cooks to the Rams for a first-round pick was the best move the Patriots could have made.
At the time of the trade, New England had a strong depth chart at the wide receiver position. The Patriots didn’t have the cap space to easily keep Cooks and his contract, and they definitely couldn’t afford to sign him to an extension. With Los Angeles offering a first-round pick for one year of service, the Patriots had no choice but to accept.
As great as Cooks is with the Rams, he would not be able to match that production with the Patriots. Cooks’ speed plays out much better in Los Angeles than it would in New England, so he wouldn’t be a drastic game changer if he still wore the Patriot blue. Cooks had the chance to prove himself as an elite receiver in 2017, but couldn’t get it done in New England’s system.
While it always hurts to watch good players leave, sometimes organizations have no choice. There was too much working against Cooks, and the Rams offer for a first-round pick was too good to turn down.
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