At this point (just like every other year), the Eagles are being linked to every living receiver possible. The next victim of the trade speculation comes in the way of speedy Rams wideout Brandin Cooks.
He tweeted “free me” a few days ago, which, following the latest issues with DeAndre Hopkins, Yannick Ngakoue, Darius Slay, and Stefon Diggs, was immediately perceived to be NFL future related.
However, teammate Cooper Kupp took to twitter to “clarify” that he was talking about the Covid-19 quarantine:
Sticking with the idea Cooks could be a trade candidate, there’s a lot to consider.
On one hand, you have a 4.33 speedster with >1000 yards and >5 TDs in 4 of the last 5 seasons. He is only 26 and ticks a lot of boxes for the Eagles.
On the other hand, you have a small player with reported 5 concussions in the last 6 years (per NFL.com), who’s coming off his worst career year in 2019. He accounts for a massive cap hit for the Rams in 2020-2023 of around $17 million/year.
For the Rams, it wouldn’t make sense to cut him as that would leave a dead cap of a whopping $29.8 million. However, if he gets traded, the Rams would void a good chunk of his contract, while the recipient team (Eagles), would only pay $8 million in 2020, $12M in 2021, $13M in 2022, and $14M in 2023.
Considering the recent free-agent market, where Anderson got $10 mil/year, Cobb $9 mil/year, Sanders $8 mil/year, and Perriman $8 mil/year, the hit doesn’t seem too bad for a player of Cooks’ caliber.
There are enough red flags with Cooks, and a deep enough draft that Eagles won’t have to jump the gun at anything. In fact, there are arguably enough factors for Roseman to have the upper hand and do a favorable deal (e.g. day 3 draft pick), or sit back and let the draft come to them.
However it pans out, the Eagles would be wise to avoid leaping in headfirst.
Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
