LA Rams Agree to Trade Brandin Cooks to Houston Texans

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, Brandin Cooks, is on his way towards Houston. According to multiple sources, the two teams agreed to make a trade that would see Cooks joining the Texans.

The team from the LA is shipping him, and the fourth-round pick form the 2022 NFL draft, in exchange for the 57th pick in this year’s draft. It seems that the Rams continued their policy of getting rid of big contracts this summer. We’ve seen Todd Gurley’s cut, Dante Fowler’s jump to Atlanta, and now Cook’s departure.

Sources: The #Texans are in the process of trading for #Rams WR Brandin Cooks. On the move again, this time to Houston.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 9, 2020

The 26-year old spent two years in LA. He would end up among the Rams in 2018, following a trade between them and the New England Patriots. The Pats sent Cooks and the fourth-round pick to California in exchange for a first-round pick (which later turned out to be Isaiah Wynn) and the sixth-rounder.

In between the first and the second season, Cooks inked a lucrative five-year deal with the Rams worth $81 million, from which $50.5 million were guaranteed. In two years, he appeared in 30 games, all of them as a starter, but his productivity wasn’t always the same. Cooks was superb in his first year, with 1,204 yards in 80 catches, having five TDs. However, in the last campaign, he had twice as fewer yards – 583 on 42 catches for just two TDs. These were his lowest figures since the rookie season.

It was a sign for the Rams that they need to react as save what could be saved. The team will sign off four years of his contract and up to $47 million, but they would still have to take $21.8 million of dead money.

This deal, the same as one with Todd Guley, turned out to be a massive bust for the franchise from LA. After their fantastic respective campaigns, both guys saw their productivity deteriorating enormously over the previous 12 months. The Rams didn’t reach the playoffs this past season, after a year in which they suffered a loss in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.

Most of the fans were pointing fingers directly towards these two individuals, who were not only the primary offensive weapons of the unit but also among the highest-paid players in the NFL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8vQSpAqM_8

From the Texans’ point of view, this deal is reasonable, as they lost arguably the best wide receiver in the league – DeAndre Hopkins, who was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. They need one elite receiver, and Cooks happened to be among the best before the previous year. Basically, it is up to him now to show up; otherwise, the Texans would have no troubles of using him as an asset in some other trade.

They have one more second-round pick, and that puts them in a solid position before the draft. Once mentioning the upcoming NFL draft, we need to say that there would be a market filled with wide receivers, which is why Rams decided to move on from Cooks. They have two second and third-round choices, meaning that there are enough options for them to fill in the gap caused by this trade.

According to many, the LA-based franchise wants to have a fresh start, which is why they changed many things during this offseason, starting with the logo, the new stadiums, etc. Their previous run at the title didn’t end well, and the executives are now clearing the roster in order to build the new crew around Jared Goff, who will be the sole leader of the team.