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WR Brandin Cooks, DAL (1 Viewer)

Is the 26 year old Cooks a potential buy low in dynasty?  Given his injury plagued season and a diminished role in the Rams offense, he must be dirt cheap right now.

I'm thinking of acquiring him as a trade throw in with the hope that he moves on from the Rams.  Obviously, the concussions are a worry and I'm betting on the change in scenery.  Does this former Biletnikoff winner have anything in the tank?

ETA:  Looking at his contract details and I think he will be a Ram through 2020.  It seems prohibitive financially to move him, although the Rams have a potential out in 2021.  Too many mouths to feed in L. A.?

 
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The Athletic's Rich Hammond reports the Rams may ask Brandin Cooks to restructure his contract.

Cooks is owed $16.8 million after a down year — setting career lows in catches (42) and touchdowns (2) while missing two games with a concussion. His dead money hit ($29.8M) makes him impossible to release, but the Rams could lower his cap number with a pay cut or restructure. It wouldn't be surprising if 2020 is Cooks' final year with the Rams.

SOURCE: The Athletic

Mar 2, 2020, 10:12 AM ET
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NFL.com's Michael Silver reports Rams WR Brandin Cooks: "Could be traded again this offseason, and it likely wouldn't take a 1."

Cooks set a career-low mark in yards per target (8.1) in addition to most counting stats in 2019. Of course, he also had just 72 targets, as Jared Goff regularly failed to have enough time to take shots down the field. Either way, Cooks was relegated to the offense's No. 3 pass-game option behind Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, making him somewhat expendable if the right offer comes around. Cooks' departure would open up a full-time role for Josh Reynolds. The six-year veteran will turn 27 in September.

SOURCE: Michael Silver on Twitter

Mar 16, 2020, 11:04 AM ET
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Faust said:
The Athletic's Rich Hammond reports the Rams may ask Brandin Cooks to restructure his contract.

Cooks is owed $16.8 million after a down year — setting career lows in catches (42) and touchdowns (2) while missing two games with a concussion. His dead money hit ($29.8M) makes him impossible to release, but the Rams could lower his cap number with a pay cut or restructure. It wouldn't be surprising if 2020 is Cooks' final year with the Rams.

SOURCE: The Athletic

Mar 2, 2020, 10:12 AM ET
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$22 million dead cap if they cut him.  Seems like they have no leverage here.

 
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The Athletics' Jeff Howe reports the Rams have made WR Brandin Cooks available for a trade.

Reports have indicated Cooks has been in trade talks for most of the offseason. The long-time stud field-stretching WR averaged five-year lows in yards per game (41.6) and yards per target (8.1) in 2019, although Jared Goff's regression and the offensive line's issues in pass protection certainly didn't help matters. Cooks' concussion history could be an issue, but he's managed to play in 88-of-96 regular season games since entering the league in 2014. Every team could use a WR with Cooks' game-changing speed.

SOURCE: ProFootballTalk on Twitter

Mar 19, 2020, 11:59 AM ET
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Not sure how accurate OTC is, but according to them the Rams lose cap space by trading him this year. Same with cutting Gurley (although trading Gurley is a gain in cap space). 

 
All I know is Josh Reynolds is a free agent in our league and there's already inflated prices on bidding in an auction. It might get serious. I'm willing to go to the mat for that. 

 
rockaction said:
All I know is Josh Reynolds is a free agent in our league and there's already inflated prices on bidding in an auction. It might get serious. I'm willing to go to the mat for that. 
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Does he benefit much from Cooks leaving, or do the Rams run more 2-TE sets with Higbee and Everett would be my question?

 
travdogg said:
Does he benefit much from Cooks leaving, or do the Rams run more 2-TE sets with Higbee and Everett would be my question?
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Good question. I have no answer nor prediction -- you'd probably have to look at usage with Cooks out of the lineup last year with his concussion, and I'm not sure where to find that. 

 
Brandin Cooks is a slight concussion away from being out for a very long time. That's an expensive second round pick.

The thought of a healthy him, Fuller, and Stills is speed scary, though. Aren't they all sub 4.4?

 
Twenty-Four Eighty-Four said:
Cooks is being traded to the Texans.
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LMAO! They gave up a pick just 17 picks from the one they got back for Hopkins but they had to eat a bad contract to get that.

And really if you made a list of 3 players heading into this off-season that teams would most likely pay someone to take the contract off their hands I think the list would be:

1. David Johnson

2. Todd Gurley

3. Brandin Cooks

The Texans just took two of them and gave up Hopkins for one of them.

Ha!

 
menobrown said:
LMAO! They gave up a pick just 17 picks from the one they got back for Hopkins but they had to eat a bad contract to get that.

And really if you made a list of 3 players heading into this off-season that teams would most likely pay someone to take the contract off their hands I think the list would be:

1. David Johnson

2. Todd Gurley

3. Brandin Cooks

The Texans just took two of them and gave up Hopkins for one of them.

Ha!
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Preach. Bad moves by Houston. Just...baffling.

 
rockaction said:
Brandin Cooks is a slight concussion away from being out for a very long time. That's an expensive second round pick.

The thought of a healthy him, Fuller, and Stills is speed scary, though. Aren't they all sub 4.4?
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Don't forget they signed Randall Cobb to a pretty big money deal. 3/27 18.75 GTD

I could be way off, but I think Stills probably becomes the #4 here.

Maybe O'Brien is bringing the run n' shoot back to Houston? He's got the QB for it, and that is a likely the best type of offense for the dueling Johnson's at RB.

menobrown said:
If he hits 1,000 will he be only player to hit 1,000 receiving yards with 4 different teams? I checked on TO and he did it with 3, came up a little short in Cincy and Buffalo.
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Brandon Marshall hit 1,000 with Denver, Miami, Chicago, and the Jets.

 
travdogg said:
Don't forget they signed Randall Cobb to a pretty big money deal. 3/27 18.75 GTD

I could be way off, but I think Stills probably becomes the #4 here.

Maybe O'Brien is bringing the run n' shoot back to Houston? He's got the QB for it, and that is a likely the best type of offense for the dueling Johnson's at RB.
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No, you're not way off. They signed Cobb as a slot guy, presumably.

I would love if they brought back the run and shoot. We haven't seen the run and shoot really since Gilbride took his Houston Oilers act to NY and was running a modified version of it with the Giants back in the aughts.

 
Texans moves this offseason are almost as silly as the way we announce major trades on this forum by just changing the team name in the player's thread title.

 
Dez said:
Houston traded a 2nd round pick for him  :lol:

It's funny cause they got a 2nd for Hopkins  :lol:

Well they did get a 4th back from the Rams........
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... but they also gave a 4th to ARZ.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I see this as the best situation for Cooks since he was in N.O. and I would be shocked if he doesn't have a giant bounce back season with Watson. 

 
BoltBacker said:
... but they also gave a 4th to ARZ.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I see this as the best situation for Cooks since he was in N.O. and I would be shocked if he doesn't have a giant bounce back season with Watson. 
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I agree and think this is a great situation for Cooks, the question I think is whether this makes sense for the Texans. I'm not as sanguine as you are about bouncing back. He's a jarring hit (or not even jarring hit) from missing major time due to his head injuries. That's part of what everybody is wondering. They're also wondering about his hideous contract. I mean, it's fashionable to beat up on Bill O'Brien, but he seems to make it easy to do so with impunity.

Cooks has had five concussions. Five.

 
Mystery Achiever said:
And all moves since drafted by Saints were via trade. Wonder if that is a record.
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Was just thinking this.  I'm sure maybe some late round pick, but I doubt a 1st round pick has ever played on 4 teams in his first 7 seasons.

I was a huge fan of his in college, this is crazy to see.  NFC-AFC-NFC-AFC....which NFC team does he go to next year?

 
Cooks's career and fantasy output remind me of the Stampy the Elephant episode in the Simpsons when Homer lectures Marge about abstract ideologies:

Communism works in theory -- in theory, Marge.

 
rockaction said:
I agree and think this is a great situation for Cooks, the question I think is whether this makes sense for the Texans. I'm not as sanguine as you are about bouncing back. He's a jarring hit (or not even jarring hit) from missing major time due to his head injuries. That's part of what everybody is wondering. They're also wondering about his hideous contract. I mean, it's fashionable to beat up on Bill O'Brien, but he seems to make it easy to do so with impunity.

Cooks has had five concussions. Five.
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It's hard to defend the moves O'Brien makes, but I will say that he's pushing all his chips in and trying to win right now imo. I've never like his personality(from what I've seen) but it's easier to root for that than what the Rams are doing. They are just making one salary dump after another and not only did they get passed by SF/SEA but now they might be a rung or more behind ARZ if the Cardinals get some OL help. It just looks like the Rams are punting 2020 to me. 

Cooks had a bad year last year but I think he's his production has been very high over the past 5 seasons. Yeah, one play could end his season but if you are staring at Will Fuller as being your #1 WR they had to do something. At 26yo he may have a lot of career production left. To me this contract is nothing like the David Johnson contract.

 
BoltBacker said:
It's hard to defend the moves O'Brien makes, but I will say that he's pushing all his chips in and trying to win right now imo. I've never like his personality(from what I've seen) but it's easier to root for that than what the Rams are doing. They are just making one salary dump after another and not only did they get passed by SF/SEA but now they might be a rung or more behind ARZ if the Cardinals get some OL help. It just looks like the Rams are punting 2020 to me. 

Cooks had a bad year last year but I think he's his production has been very high over the past 5 seasons. Yeah, one play could end his season but if you are staring at Will Fuller as being your #1 WR they had to do something. At 26yo he may have a lot of career production left. To me this contract is nothing like the David Johnson contract.
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Fair enough. Reasonable people can disagree. I like Cooks as a player, but his concussions give me massive pause about his ability to stay on the field at all. 

 
I can't even believe either these teams right now. The Rams franchise is literally broke and the Texans are self destructing. 

 
Bizarre on both ends. This does give HOU some interesting play flexibility with three guys who have good speed. Not a huge fan of Cooks but you can certainly keep teams on their toes with him/Fuller/Stills running around and Watson having the mobility he has. This has to be a win or go home year for BOB right? 

Not sure what the Rams are doing but they looked lost on the field all last year so changes are in order. They seemed like they were at their best when the running game was flowing and Goff/Kupp connection was active. Not sure what happened after Kupp was leading the league in receiving yards for the first half of the season or so (or at least he was up there). It will be interesting to see what direction they go in the draft. 

 
rockaction said:
I agree and think this is a great situation for Cooks, the question I think is whether this makes sense for the Texans. I'm not as sanguine as you are about bouncing back. He's a jarring hit (or not even jarring hit) from missing major time due to his head injuries. That's part of what everybody is wondering. They're also wondering about his hideous contract. I mean, it's fashionable to beat up on Bill O'Brien, but he seems to make it easy to do so with impunity.

Cooks has had five concussions. Five.
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Yeah his last concussion came on a nothing play.  He's so susceptible to it at this point.  All I can think of for guys with this many concussions are guys like Austin Collie and Jordan Reed and they certainly never got away from it.

 
ffmail4me said:
If you still own Cooks, I do think this is the best landing spot for him. Watson has the arm to get him the ball deep, and he'll clearly be the #1 WR. 
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Hearing this brought up and don't agree.

Cooks had his most yards and second most catches with Rams. Health was his issue with them this year and why they wanted to shed him, not sure how getting traded helps with that.

And I don't see what in his game is any better then Fuller's game to say he's the clear #1. Both are kind of similar to me, speed guys who got big time injury concerns.

 
BoltBacker said:
It's hard to defend the moves O'Brien makes, but I will say that he's pushing all his chips in and trying to win right now imo. I've never like his personality(from what I've seen) but it's easier to root for that than what the Rams are doing. They are just making one salary dump after another and not only did they get passed by SF/SEA but now they might be a rung or more behind ARZ if the Cardinals get some OL help. It just looks like the Rams are punting 2020 to me. 
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I disagree with the first statement, and think you're overlooking the irony of the second.

On the first statement, it seems the reason for shipping off Hopkins was to avoid paying him a big long-term deal that was going to become troublesome when Watson's rookie deal runs out.  They were balking at having to pay him $18-$20 million per year, but instead they are now paying DJ/Cobb/Cooks a combined $31 million this year.  Is there a person alive that thinks those guys at $31 million are better to try and win now than having Hopkins plus an extra $11 million to spend?

On the second statement, there is a lot of irony there because the whole reason the Rams are stuck making a bunch of salary dumps right now is because they went over the top all-in like no team has ever done before on trying to win now this past year.

 
Salary wise the Texan's are on the hook with B Cooks and D Johnson for one year and R Cobbs for two.
Kenny Stills and Will Fuller are in the last year of their contracts. This is another year of "make or break".
If none of this works, almost the whole thing can be blown up for next year. With or without BOB.
The lack of draft picks hurts but a deep playoff run can cure most of that, 

 
nightmare said:
Salary wise the Texan's are on the hook with B Cooks and D Johnson for one year and R Cobbs for two.
Kenny Stills and Will Fuller are in the last year of their contracts. This is another year of "make or break".
If none of this works, almost the whole thing can be blown up for next year. With or without BOB.
The lack of draft picks hurts but a deep playoff run can cure most of that, 
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As a Texans fan, hopefully without

 
FreeBaGeL said:
On the first statement, it seems the reason for shipping off Hopkins was to avoid paying him a big long-term deal that was going to become troublesome when Watson's rookie deal runs out.  They were balking at having to pay him $18-$20 million per year, but instead they are now paying DJ/Cobb/Cooks a combined $31 million this year. 

On the second statement, there is a lot of irony there because the whole reason the Rams are stuck making a bunch of salary dumps right now is because they went over the top all-in like no team has ever done before on trying to win now this past year.
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Well, to be clear I think the DJ contract is HORRIBLE. He has had ONE season of a thousand yards rushing over the past 5 years, and the last time he eclipsed 3.7yards/carry was 2016.

In addition the Cobb contract was also HORRIBLE. The last time he had a thousand yard season receiving(with two pretty good QB's throwing to him btw) was 2014.

I think it's more than a bit disingenuous to say that the Cooks deal is bad because as a group the DJ/Cobb/Cooks deals are bad. Cooks has been a consistent producer in four of the past five seasons and he is scheduled to make much, much less than Hopkins was reported to be asking for. Hopkins is also older than Cooks. 

In terms of "going for it" I'm criticizing the Rams because they are about a year away from playing in a superbowl and releasing Gurley was more important to them then trying to compete this year with much of that team still in tact. From the numbers I've seen it actually cost them more money to release him than they would have had if they had simply kept Gurley on the roster. Since they released Gurley and Clay Mathews now they are also dumping Cooks. By my math they now need an extra RB because neither Brown or Henderson looked like complete backs last season, they need a third WR now that Josh Reynolds will be bumped up as their #2 WR, AND they need to replace both their #2 and #3 most productive pass rushers from last season all because they wanted Gurley off the roster so bad. But hey, they got a 2nd rounder so maybe they'll be able to pull all that off with their 2nd round draft choice.

 
BoltBacker said:
I think it's more than a bit disingenuous to say that the Cooks deal is bad because as a group the DJ/Cobb/Cooks deals are bad. Cooks has been a consistent producer in four of the past five seasons and he is scheduled to make much, much less than Hopkins was reported to be asking for. Hopkins is also older than Cooks. 
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I would not say $12 million is "much, much less" than the $18 million Hopkins was asking for.  That's barely half of DJ's salary for the year.

The reality is that if their goal was to win this year then I think paying Hopkins $18 million is a much better way to do it than paying any of those 3 guys anything near what any of them are getting.  And for Cooks IMO the most likely scenario is that he's never a relevant player again and fades away like every other player that's been through that bad of an issue with concussions has done before.

 
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I don't think the Cooks deal by itself is such a bad trade for Houston. Since the Rams ate all the dead money, Cooks is basically on a 1 year, $12m contract with a team option for the next 4 years. That's a very team friendly contract. Plus Cooks probably helps them more than a WR available at 57 for this season, and they got a 4th back. 

Lumped in with the Hopkins trade it's obviously terrible, but they are separate moves. 

 
BoltBacker said:
Well, to be clear I think the DJ contract is HORRIBLE. He has had ONE season of a thousand yards rushing over the past 5 years, and the last time he eclipsed 3.7yards/carry was 2016.

In addition the Cobb contract was also HORRIBLE. The last time he had a thousand yard season receiving(with two pretty good QB's throwing to him btw) was 2014.

I think it's more than a bit disingenuous to say that the Cooks deal is bad because as a group the DJ/Cobb/Cooks deals are bad. Cooks has been a consistent producer in four of the past five seasons and he is scheduled to make much, much less than Hopkins was reported to be asking for. Hopkins is also older than Cooks. 

In terms of "going for it" I'm criticizing the Rams because they are about a year away from playing in a superbowl and releasing Gurley was more important to them then trying to compete this year with much of that team still in tact. From the numbers I've seen it actually cost them more money to release him than they would have had if they had simply kept Gurley on the roster. Since they released Gurley and Clay Mathews now they are also dumping Cooks. By my math they now need an extra RB because neither Brown or Henderson looked like complete backs last season, they need a third WR now that Josh Reynolds will be bumped up as their #2 WR, AND they need to replace both their #2 and #3 most productive pass rushers from last season all because they wanted Gurley off the roster so bad. But hey, they got a 2nd rounder so maybe they'll be able to pull all that off with their 2nd round draft choice.
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Josh Reynolds will be bumped up to #4 in targets behind Kupp, Woods, and Higbee

 
FreeBaGeL said:
I would not say $12 million is "much, much less" than the $18 million Hopkins was asking for.  That's barely half of DJ's salary for the year.

The reality is that if their goal was to win this year then I think paying Hopkins $18 million is a much better way to do it than paying any of those 3 guys anything near what any of them are getting.  And for Cooks IMO the most likely scenario is that he's never a relevant player again and fades away like every other player that's been through that bad of an issue with concussions has done before.
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I'm pretty sure Cooks is making $8mil this in 2020. The $12mil is for 2021, and if Hopkins wants a new contract right now I doubt if he's asking for $18mil now and $18mil in 2021. But let's say that's the case. Then you would be paying Cooks $20mil for the next two seasons and Hopkins $36mil. Seems like quite a bit less to me.

 
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