The Rams Acquire Patriots WR Brandin Cooks For Draft Picks And Forget About Odell Beckham Jr.

The brief flirtation between the Giants and Rams as would-be trading partners is no more, and the Patriots got younger but lost a major weapon for Tom Brady by sending field-stretcher Brandin Cooks to the Los Angeles Rams. Specifically, the Rams are getting Cooks and a fourth-round pick from the Patriots. In return, Los Angeles is giving up its first (no. 23 overall) and sixth-round picks in the upcoming draft.

Cooks will replace Sammy Watkins, who left to Kansas City early in free agency. The Patriots, meanwhile, are now down Cooks and Danny Amendola, while the future of Julian Edelman is in question after the Brady safety valve tore his ACL last August. On top of the wide receiver questions, future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski has had retirement rumors floating around him since before the Super Bowl.

Cooks had 65 receptions for 1,082 yards and seven touchdowns as the Patriots went to the Super Bowl, and will be tough to replace. He was a constant deep threat and was able to draw pass interference flags on the regular. For the Rams, this has been an incredible offseason in which they’ve acquired defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to work alongside Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and a pair of All-Pro cornerbacks in Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters.

The interesting wrinkle in all of this is that the Giants are undoubtedly shopping Beckham, but where does he go? According to Yahoo, the Patriots dealt Cooks after realizing they didn’t have the funds to extend him, but would they be able to make something work for Beckham?

(Via Yahoo)