Brandin Cooks Traded to Houston Texans

[Elmgrovegnome]

The biggest question I have now is what does the a Rams cap look like next March? How much should they be under by?

 

[kurtfaulk]

The biggest question I have now is what does the a Rams cap look like next March? How much should they be under by?

sportac has it at $65m cap space for a $209m total cap.

obviously they have to pay ramsey, kupp, jj3, everett maybe.

.

 

[LouisvilleRam]

Like I said to my good friend, Memento, I respect your opinion, but I don't share it. His sophomore season was fairly average, and I don't think he has the explosive acceleration or the extra gear to consistently pose problems for NFL CBs vertically.

I also respect your opinion but his 40 time(4.48) was very similar to Stephon Diggs (4.46) and Diggs consistently gets by NFL corners vertically for deep passes

 

[CGI_Ram]

That was one thing Sammy Watkins was good at. red zone strong handed target.

Everett can be this guy. Strong hands.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Brandin Cooks trade grade: Texans find DeAndre Hopkins replacement while Rams get a second-round pick

Bill O'Brien makes another questionable move, while the Rams eat a ton of dead money for Cooks

www.cbssports.com

Brandin Cooks trade grade: Texans find DeAndre Hopkins replacement while Rams get a second-round pick

The Los Angeles Rams were finally able to find a taker for Brandin Cooks. All they had to do was give Bill O'Brien a call.

Los Angeles dealt Cooks and a 2022 fourth-round pick to the Houston Texans for a 2020 second-round pick, the third time Cooks has been dealt since 2017. Cooks becomes the most proven receiver on the Texans' roster after catching 402 passes for 5,730 yards and 34 touchdowns in his six-year career -- including four 1,000-yard seasons.

The Rams recoup some draft capital by parting ways with Cooks, who was a 1,000-yard receiver for the franchise in 2018 and earned a five-year, $81 million extension after Los Angeles acquired him from the New England Patriots.

At the end of the day, the Cooks trade was between two franchises who have made some very suspect moves of late. The Rams and Texans were perfect trade partners for Cooks, who has one of the strangest careers to date.
Here are the trade grades for both teams on the Cooks trade:

Texans: C

The Texans didn't have to give up that much for Cooks, but a 2020 second-round pick (No. 57) is still a bit much for a player who's had five concussions over his career -- including two in a 25-day span in 2019. The Texans wouldn't have had to do this if they had just decided to keep DeAndre Hopkins for 2020 and beyond. Cooks is a big downgrade from Hopkins, especially when considering those concussions.

Cooks caught 42 passes for 583 yards and two touchdowns for the Rams last season, with the catches and touchdowns career lows for the 26-year-old wideout. His 13.9 yards per catch is also his lowest since 2015. The Texans probably could've gotten Cooks for less than a second-round pick, but Bill O'Brien does Bill O'Brien things (he traded Hopkins for David Johnson last month). All the Rams had to do was call O'Brien to find a taker to get out of Cooks' contract.

If Cooks' concussion issues don't reemerge, the Texans will have a reliable target for Deshaun Watson for the next several years. Cooks had a career-high 1,204 yards for the Rams in 2018 and finished with a career-high 16.6 yards per catch in 2017 with the New England Patriots. He'll be the No. 1 wide receiver in the Texans offense, which is a deep group with Will Fuller, Randall Cobb and Kenny Stills. Cooks isn't the same player as Hopkins, but the Texans can become a more vertical offense with him on the roster.

Houston has seven draft picks, but just three in the first 111 selections, with no first-round pick. The Texans have a second (No. 40, from Arizona in the Hopkins deal), a third (No. 97), a fourth (No. 111), a fifth (No. 171) and three seventh-round picks (No. 240, No. 248, No. 250). The Texans continue to give away draft picks for players with massive deals, the latest being the remaining three years and $39 million owed to Cooks.

If Cooks is healthy, he could wind up being a bargain for Houston.

Rams: C+

Kudos to the Rams for finding someone to take on Cooks' contract, but the front office continues to mismanage their cap situation and could have made this deal weeks ago. The Rams failed to trade Cooks before March 15, giving him a $4 million roster bonus in his contract. Then they didn't trade him before March 20, which fully guaranteed his 2020 salary of $8 million. As a result, the Rams suffer a $21.8 million dead cap hit in 2020 by dealing Cooks, which is higher than any cap figure given to a wide receiver this season (per Spotrac). That's just bad business by general manager Les Snead, who has sent away Cooks and Todd Gurley less than two years after giving them massive deals. Per Over The Cap, the Rams are $5,349,165 over the cap, even with Gurley and Cooks off the roster.

Snead deserves some credit for calling O'Brien and getting him to take Cooks off his hands, yet alone getting O'Brien to overpay and acquire a second-round pick (No. 57 overall) in the process. The Rams were desperate to add some draft capital after the series of trades they made over the past few seasons, trading away their first-round pick (and next year's first-round pick) in the Jalen Ramsey deal and a fifth-round pick in the Dante Fowler deal (Fowler signed with the Falcons this offseason).

Los Angeles has two second-round picks (No. 52 and No. 57), two third-round picks (No. 84 and No. 104), a fourth (No. 126), a sixth (No. 199) and a seventh (No. 234). The Rams now have four picks on Day 2 of the draft and can use one of those second-round picks to replace Cooks in the offense. This is an excellent year to select a wide receiver in the draft, especially on Day 2. A top rookie can match the production of Cooks and has more upside.

The Rams also are out of the three years and $39 million remaining on Cooks' contract. They still gave Cooks $50 million guaranteed and have plenty of bad contracts on the books (cough, Jared Goff, cough), but trading Cooks is a step in the right direction.

 

[kurtfaulk]

Brandin Cooks trade grade: Texans find DeAndre Hopkins replacement while Rams get a second-round pick

Bill O'Brien makes another questionable move, while the Rams eat a ton of dead money for Cooks

www.cbssports.com

Brandin Cooks trade grade: Texans find DeAndre Hopkins replacement while Rams get a second-round pick

The Los Angeles Rams were finally able to find a taker for Brandin Cooks. All they had to do was give Bill O'Brien a call.

Los Angeles dealt Cooks and a 2022 fourth-round pick to the Houston Texans for a 2020 second-round pick, the third time Cooks has been dealt since 2017. Cooks becomes the most proven receiver on the Texans' roster after catching 402 passes for 5,730 yards and 34 touchdowns in his six-year career -- including four 1,000-yard seasons.

The Rams recoup some draft capital by parting ways with Cooks, who was a 1,000-yard receiver for the franchise in 2018 and earned a five-year, $81 million extension after Los Angeles acquired him from the New England Patriots.

At the end of the day, the Cooks trade was between two franchises who have made some very suspect moves of late. The Rams and Texans were perfect trade partners for Cooks, who has one of the strangest careers to date.
Here are the trade grades for both teams on the Cooks trade:

Texans: C

The Texans didn't have to give up that much for Cooks, but a 2020 second-round pick (No. 57) is still a bit much for a player who's had five concussions over his career -- including two in a 25-day span in 2019. The Texans wouldn't have had to do this if they had just decided to keep DeAndre Hopkins for 2020 and beyond. Cooks is a big downgrade from Hopkins, especially when considering those concussions.

Cooks caught 42 passes for 583 yards and two touchdowns for the Rams last season, with the catches and touchdowns career lows for the 26-year-old wideout. His 13.9 yards per catch is also his lowest since 2015. The Texans probably could've gotten Cooks for less than a second-round pick, but Bill O'Brien does Bill O'Brien things (he traded Hopkins for David Johnson last month). All the Rams had to do was call O'Brien to find a taker to get out of Cooks' contract.

If Cooks' concussion issues don't reemerge, the Texans will have a reliable target for Deshaun Watson for the next several years. Cooks had a career-high 1,204 yards for the Rams in 2018 and finished with a career-high 16.6 yards per catch in 2017 with the New England Patriots. He'll be the No. 1 wide receiver in the Texans offense, which is a deep group with Will Fuller, Randall Cobb and Kenny Stills. Cooks isn't the same player as Hopkins, but the Texans can become a more vertical offense with him on the roster.

Houston has seven draft picks, but just three in the first 111 selections, with no first-round pick. The Texans have a second (No. 40, from Arizona in the Hopkins deal), a third (No. 97), a fourth (No. 111), a fifth (No. 171) and three seventh-round picks (No. 240, No. 248, No. 250). The Texans continue to give away draft picks for players with massive deals, the latest being the remaining three years and $39 million owed to Cooks.

If Cooks is healthy, he could wind up being a bargain for Houston.

Rams: C+

Kudos to the Rams for finding someone to take on Cooks' contract, but the front office continues to mismanage their cap situation and could have made this deal weeks ago. The Rams failed to trade Cooks before March 15, giving him a $4 million roster bonus in his contract. Then they didn't trade him before March 20, which fully guaranteed his 2020 salary of $8 million. As a result, the Rams suffer a $21.8 million dead cap hit in 2020 by dealing Cooks, which is higher than any cap figure given to a wide receiver this season (per Spotrac). That's just bad business by general manager Les Snead, who has sent away Cooks and Todd Gurley less than two years after giving them massive deals. Per Over The Cap, the Rams are $5,349,165 over the cap, even with Gurley and Cooks off the roster.

Snead deserves some credit for calling O'Brien and getting him to take Cooks off his hands, yet alone getting O'Brien to overpay and acquire a second-round pick (No. 57 overall) in the process. The Rams were desperate to add some draft capital after the series of trades they made over the past few seasons, trading away their first-round pick (and next year's first-round pick) in the Jalen Ramsey deal and a fifth-round pick in the Dante Fowler deal (Fowler signed with the Falcons this offseason).

Los Angeles has two second-round picks (No. 52 and No. 57), two third-round picks (No. 84 and No. 104), a fourth (No. 126), a sixth (No. 199) and a seventh (No. 234). The Rams now have four picks on Day 2 of the draft and can use one of those second-round picks to replace Cooks in the offense. This is an excellent year to select a wide receiver in the draft, especially on Day 2. A top rookie can match the production of Cooks and has more upside.

The Rams also are out of the three years and $39 million remaining on Cooks' contract. They still gave Cooks $50 million guaranteed and have plenty of bad contracts on the books (cough, Jared Goff, cough), but trading Cooks is a step in the right direction.

this guy is clueless about the numbers. he just randomly picked whatever numbers he saw mashed them all together.

.

 

[den-the-coach]

The Texans are nuts. They could get a healthy receiver in round 2, that may or may not be as good as Cooks, but the odds are will last much longer in the league.

Right now I'm very happy with the Houston Texans and Bill O'Brien, although, don't trade with anyone else in our division, Bill!

 

[iamme33]

I think we have enough "prospects," developmental potential, depth on OL. We need a starter imo. I realize there's also the school of thought you end up "hitting" from a bigger pool of jags, but I feel like more developmental potential might be a waste of our draft capital right now.

wow !!! this is almost exactly how I feel. I think we can work with the ol we have and add more late rnd picks and still have an average or slightly better line. for those of us who want a dominant o line we have to spend the draft capital and give kromer some real talent to work with.

 

[iamme33]

Trying to find a guaranteed rookie starter on the OL outside of the top 40 picks isn't an easy thing to do. We'll likely have to settle for a prospect. But there are some prospects who might end up as rookie starters if things break right.

jrry 32 do you think with the wide receivers in this draft it might push some quality oliners into our range.

 

[payote75]

jrry 32 do you think with the wide receivers in this draft it might push some quality oliners into our range.

I think that this draft will be a shit show lol. I know teams scouts have eyes on these dudes way in advance however many times as we were all to familiar with scouting department/teams still can't get it right when they draft and that's when they are able to go through the process full on.

So I'm thinking some teams perhaps teams that aren't strong in the scouting departments/front office may blow it and some teams that are solid will obviously do well. However that being said I thing more players will just fall or go overlooked more than other years because of the way this draft is being conducted no visits workouts etc.

So some teams with excellent scouting or organizations in general may really clean up here.

It's almost like the days of school whomever really studied up might pass with flying colors. Rounds 3-7 especially will be the most difficult part of this exam usually is but this year more so. That's whatakes this draft so much more fascinating to me.

 

[Ram65]

Rams: C+

Kudos to the Rams for finding someone to take on Cooks' contract, but the front office continues to mismanage their cap situation and could have made this deal weeks ago.

The trade by itself deserves a good B if not better. Getting a second-rounder with Cooks' concussion history is hard to believe.

Kudos to the Rams for finding someone to take on Cooks' contract, but the front office continues to mismanage their cap situation and could have made this deal weeks ago. The Rams failed to trade Cooks before March 15, giving him a $4 million roster bonus in his contract. Then they didn't trade him before March 20, which fully guaranteed his 2020 salary of $8 million. As a result, the Rams suffer a $21.8 million dead cap hit in 2020 by dealing Cooks, which is higher than any cap figure given to a wide receiver this season (per Spotrac). That's just bad business by general manager Les Snead, who has sent away Cooks and Todd Gurley less than two years after giving them massive deals. Per Over The Cap, the Rams are $5,349,165 over the cap, even with Gurley and Cooks off the roster.

It would have been great to trade him earlier. However, you need someone willing to make a deal. Who knows what was offered or even if there were any offers. They still got a deal done for a freakin' second-rounder. I would not have minded rolling with Cooks this year but, they get a needed second-rounder and are off the hook next year. Snead and Demoff can work around the cap numbers.

Snead deserves some credit for calling O'Brien and getting him to take Cooks off his hands, yet alone getting O'Brien to overpay and acquire a second-round pick (No. 57 overall) in the process.

So it was a good trade. Want to change your grad?

Los Angeles has two second-round picks (No. 52 and No. 57), two third-round picks (No. 84 and No. 104), a fourth (No. 126), a sixth (No. 199) and a seventh (No. 234). The Rams now have four picks on Day 2 of the draft and can use one of those second-round picks to replace Cooks in the offense. This is an excellent year to select a wide receiver in the draft, especially on Day 2. A top rookie can match the production of Cooks and has more upside.

The trade sounds even better.

So if you count Ramsey as a first-rounder the Rams have a full draft. Somehow the Snead and McVay are taking the unfortunate injuries and working around them to still have a contending Rams team.

 

[nighttrain]

consessus on Texans Board, Snead just made O'Brien his bitch
train

 

[Corbin]

Think BOB will trade Tunsil to us?

 

[jrry32]

I also respect your opinion but his 40 time(4.48) was very similar to Stephon Diggs (4.46) and Diggs consistently gets by NFL corners vertically for deep passes

Stefon Diggs is a much better route runner and has better acceleration. His 40 time is slower than a number of players who couldn't separate in the NFL (ex. Jaelen Strong). Trying to judge separation by 40 time is a fool's errand. Watch DPJ on film. Kid isn't an easy separator.

 

[jrry32]

jrry 32 do you think with the wide receivers in this draft it might push some quality oliners into our range.

I think the devaluation of Centers will push quality Centers in the third round (and maybe even the fourth round).

 

[Allen2McVay]

It's $21.8M. That comes from the prorated signing and option bonuses acceleration onto the 2020 cap. His $8 million salary is not counted as part of the $21.8M. It's purely bonuses he has already received. Unless the bonuses were less than what Spotrac/OverTheCap have, there's no way around this one.

I was hoping the $21.8M was inaccurate but it appears to be correct; and your response accurate.

Damn it!

Looks like these moves were mostly about getting out of two bad contracts by 2021 (although there will probably still be some Dead-$ related to the Gurley release provided it is designated as a post-June 1 move).

Thanks for the response. Damn it!!!

 

[LouisvilleRam]

Stefon Diggs is a much better route runner and has better acceleration. His 40 time is slower than a number of players who couldn't separate in the NFL (ex. Jaelen Strong). Trying to judge separation by 40 time is a fool's errand. Watch DPJ on film. Kid isn't an easy separator.

Oh I agree about 40 times but I like his speed for his size and DPJ's ability to go up in traffic( 3rd all time highest at combine 44 and half inches) and come down with the ball(red zone). Just reading your posts you know more about football than I ever will so I respect your input but if he's there at say our 104th pick I think we should grab him unless we grabbed a WR earlier.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

I think the devaluation of Centers will push quality Centers in the third round (and maybe even the fourth round).

Are you getting the "devaluation" idea from their recent relative payscales? (Sorry if you addressed that earlier or something.)

 

[jrry32]

Are you getting the "devaluation" idea from their recent relative payscales? (Sorry if you addressed that earlier or something.)

That's a byproduct of it. But center-only prospects have been devalued for years. This year, the Center class is stacked, and the good news is that most of them aren't great fits at OG. That means that there should be starting caliber Centers falling to the 3rd and possibly 4th rounds.

 

[So Ram]

That's a byproduct of it. But center-only prospects have been devalued for years. This year, the Center class is stacked, and the good news is that most of them aren't great fits at OG. That means that there should be starting caliber Centers falling to the 3rd and possibly 4th rounds.

Well I don’t see that being the case for The Rams. Then again having Austin Blythe as a backup Center guard is not a bad thing. My evaluation does not change though. The Rams are not in position to WASTE a pick on a Center. They already did that with Brian Allen. I think they eat that pick & make the best of the situation.

Your solid at finding draft picks. So glad The Rams drafted Copper Kupp, but I believe I stated they would draft a TE first. Same this year with a RB.

What was your take on 2017 draft with Offensive Lineman ?? Did you want those 2 guys that went to the Chargers in Feeney and Lamp ??