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Brandin Cooks

Rams trade wideout to Texans

I'm not going to use this space to pick on Bill O'Brien. I could, but since everyone else is already doing it, why pile on. Yes, he's like the guy in your dynasty league who immediately trades away all his picks each year. At least this time he's trading for a guy who two other teams already traded for, so it's not as bad as, say, the Duke Johnson trade. Or not getting a first-round pick for DeAndre Hopkins. Or...

But I said I wasn't going to pile on. So let's just look at Cooks himself. He's been a pretty productive wideout for most of his career.

Not so much in 2019, of course, which explains why the Rams were eager to ship him off for a second-round pick. There's a concussion history, and so in Cooks' 14 games he caught only 42 passes for 583 yards and 2 TDs. Wait a minute, why did Houston want to trade for him again?

It's because prior to 2019, Cooks had been one of the league's most productive wideouts. He went over 1,000 yards in four straight seasons, one of only four players do so in that span (the others: Julio Jones, Mike Evans and Antonio Brown). Those three players, DeAndre Hopkins and T.Y. Hilton are the only players to put up more yards than Cooks in that four-year span.

TOTAL RECEIVING YARDS, 2015-2018
Player'15'16'17'18Tot
Julio Jones18711409144416776401
Antonio Brown18341284153312975948
DeAndre Hopkins1521954137815725425
Mike Evans12061321100115245052
T.Y. Hilton1124144896612704808
Brandin Cooks11381173108212044597
Travis Kelce8751125103813364374
Jarvis Landry115711369879764256
Odell Beckham1450136730210524171
Larry Fitzgerald1215102311567344128
A.J. Green129796410786944033
Demaryius Thomas130410839496774013
Amari Cooper1070115368010053908
Doug Baldwin106911289916183806
Michael Thomas1137124514053787
Adam Thielen144967127613733760
Davante Adams48399788513863751
Golden Tate813107710037953688
Zach Ertz85381682411633656
Emmanuel Sanders113510325558683590
Stefon Diggs72090384910213493
Rob Gronkowski117654010846823482
Keenan Allen72563139311963377
Marvin Jones81693011015083355
Alshon Jeffery8078217898433260
Tyreek Hill593118314793255
Robert Woods55261378112193165
Michael Crabtree92210036186073150
Allen Robinson1400883177543054
DeSean Jackson52810056687742975
Tyler Lockett6645975559652781
Delanie Walker1088800807522747
Jimmy Graham6059235206362684
Greg Olsen110410731912912659
Julian Edelman69211068502648
Jamison Crowder6048477893882628
Willie Snead984895926512622
Pierre Garcon77710415002862604
Sammy Watkins10474305935192589
Mohamed Sanu3946537038382588
Brandon Marshall15027881541362580
Eric Ebron5377115747502572
Kenny Stills4407268475532566
John Brown10035172997152534
Tyrell Williams9010597286532530
Kyle Rudolph4958405326342501
Ted Ginn7397527872092487
Jordy Nelson12574827392478
Randall Cobb8296106533832475

Granted, before the trading bug hit O'Brien this offseason, he already had one of those elite performers in Hopkins. And if we include 2019 stats, Cooks falls quite a bit.

The concussion history, though, is what's concerning. He suffered two last season, and five total in his NFL career (known). That history is the main reason the Rams made him available, leaving themselves with over $20 million in dead money against their salary cap (ouch). And that's why he cost "only" a second-round pick.

Say for this O'Brien. If Cooks is healthy, he's a talented, 26-year-old wide receiver. Should be a nice addition to the receiving corps, alongside Will Fuller (who has an injury history of his own).

If he's not healthy, though, things are really going to blow up in O'Brien's face. And in what everyone considers a very deep wide receiver draft class, seems like that draft pick could have been used to select a talented player who's 5 years younger and doesn't have a concussion history. Albeit unproven, compared to Cooks.

--Andy Richardson

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