By PETER KING[
www.si.com]
The difference-maker in the Patriots’ trade of Brandin Cooks to the Rams on Tuesday? I’m told the deal, which had been discussed several times since the end of the season, got rekindled when Sean McVay and Bill Belichick talked at the University of Georgia football coaches clinic late last week. I hear the Rams had their first-round pick on the table, but it was the ancillary picks that needed to be reconfigured for the deal to finally get done; the Rams wanted better than a fourth-rounder in return from New England, and the Patriots stuck to their guns on their proposed compensation. And it gone done Tuesday afternoon.
“When it got finalized,” Rams GM Les Snead said from Los Angeles on Tuesday night, “you had a very happy head coach and offensive play-caller [McVay] in our offices—and you know that they are one and the same.”
There’s a lot we learned about the Patriots, the Rams, the Giants and the first round of the draft when New England sent wide receiver Cooks and a fourth-round pick to Los Angeles for the Rams’ first and sixth-round picks. Breaking it down:
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE RAMS
Cooks is not a consolation prize for losing out on Odell Beckham Jr. That is clear. Last year, months before the Rams traded for Sammy Watkins in August, they tried to trade with New Orleans for Cooks before the Saints sent him to New England. “At that time, we didn’t have a first-round pick and New England did, and that made all the difference,” Snead said. “We discussed [cornerback] Trumaine Johnson with New Orleans, but we could not trump New England’s one.” Beckham would cost two firsts and, if the Rams were able to sign him, about $20 million a year. Cooks, I’m guessing, will be around $17 million a year (if they can sign him beyond this year) and the Rams saved a first-rounder and dropped down 113 picks (from their one to the Patriots’ four) with the other. So in money and draft compensation, LA saved. It means very little, though, if they can’t sign Cooks. I’m assuming that has a good chance of getting done, seeing that Cooks is a Californian (Stockton) and has the same agent as Jared Goff—the Rams quarterback will likely become a big Cooks fan, soon.
McVay is so enthused because he’s wanted a reliable outside speed receiver since he got to Los Angeles. Sammy Watkins, who left for Kansas City in free agency, was fast but not altogether reliable. Now McVay can deploy Cooks and Robert Woods on the outside and Cooper Kupp in the slot, with prospect Josh Reynolds a promising fourth receiver and Tavon Austin a gadget guy if he stays.
The Rams have now acquired four Pro Bowl-caliber players in the past month—Ndamukong Suh, Marcus Peters, Aqib Talib and Cooks, and now will not pick till late on the second day of the draft, the 87th overall choice. “I can’t honestly say we can’t do much more now,” Snead said. They likely won’t sign even bargain unrestricted free agents now, because they want to capitalize on compensatory picks in 2019.
The biggest looming issue for the Rams: Star defensive tackle Aaron Donald and Cooks are both looming 2019 free agents. If they both get to the market, the Rams can only tag one. That’s likely to be Donald, the best defensive lineman in football. So the race will be on to get one or both signed long-term and, if necessary, put a franchise or transition tag on the other to keep him for 2019.
“One of our main priorities now is to make Aaron Donald a Ram for a long time,” Snead said.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE 2018 DRAFT
Bummer. Snead’s the most aggressive GM in the league, and he’s got one of the most aggressive coaches and a front office led by COO Kevin Demoff that loves the action. None of them is married to the old way of roster-building, and the Rams with multiple picks high in the draft would have made draft weekend in Dallas a lot more fun.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2018 08:59PM by RamBill.
