Green Bay Packers Trade Target: WR Brandin Cooks

It’s been reported that WR Brandin Cooks is on the trading block, but how likely is it that the Green Bay Packers make the move?

We all know that at the top of the Green Bay Packers’ to-do list this offseason is to add more speed and playmaking ability to the wide receiver position. Whether that be via trade, free agency, or the draft, to put it simply, it just needs to happen.

Despite the Packers finishing the 2019 season 13-3 overall and being just one game short of the Super Bowl, their passing attack was largely inconsistent for much of the season. That is outside of Davante Adams, of course.

Fortunately, we saw the emergence of Allen Lazard in the second half of the season which certainly helped as well as running back Aaron Jones playing a much larger role in the passing offense. However, Geronimo Allison and Marquez Valdes-Scantling had disappointing seasons, Jake Kumerow still struggled to see steady playing time, and Equanimeous St. Brown was placed on IR before the season even began.

In an attempt to provide this unit with some help, it was just reported this past week that Green Bay will be adding Devin Funchess to the mix. He’s shown that he can produce in the NFL, but he played in only one game in 2019 and he doesn’t solve the Green Bay Packers’ need for speed.

At this point, the wide receiver market is fairly picked over and it looks like spending a draft pick early on is the best course of action. That is unless Green Bay is interested in trading for Brandin Cooks of the Los Angeles Rams.

After making it all the way to the Super Bowl in 2018, the Rams finished last season at 9-7 and missed the playoffs. The result of this down season is that changes are taking place and Cooks now finds himself on the trading block, which he appears to be alright with.

https://twitter.com/brandincooks/status/1243668577871265792

Cooks is a former first-round pick of the New Orleans Saints back in 2014 and whether he’s been with the Saints, Patriots, or the Rams, he has produced. From 2015 to 2018, Cooks had four straight 1,000 yard seasons totaling nearly 4,600 yards during that span at 15 yards per catch. He also hauled in 29 touchdowns, had a catch rate of 64.4 percent, and didn’t’ miss a game.

For the Green Bay Packers, Cooks would add some much-needed speed to this offense and he would give Aaron Rodgers a true deep threat downfield which Valdes-Scantling failed to provide last season.

With Adams on one side and Cooks on the other, defenses would have a very difficult time guarding both. Not to mention that his ability to get downfield will help create more space underneath for others to work and produce.

Unfortunately, the 2019 season for Cooks didn’t go so well. He finished with only 583 receiving yards, the lowest since his rookie season, along with just two touchdown receptions. The lowest amount of his career. However, at only 26-years-old, Cooks still has some prime years ahead of him and the 2019 season will likely just be an outlier.

So while on paper this trade makes a lot of sense for the Packers, there are of course some hurdles to overcome.

If traded, this will be the third time that Cooks has been moved. In going from New Orleans to New England, a first-round pick was a part of the compensation and the same goes for when he was traded from New England to Los Angeles.

But this time around could be different. Take it with a grain of salt but there are rumors that the Rams would accept a third or fourth-round draft pick along with a Day 3 selection. And considering the caliber of player that Cooks is coupled with Green Bay having 10 draft picks this year, it’s really a very reasonable asking price.

That is until we look at Cooks’ contract. According to Spotrac, Cooks still has four years left on his five-year deal and he comes with some major cap hits. In 2020 and 2021 his cap hit is $16.8 million each year. Then in 2022, it is $17.8 million and in 2023 it is $17.4 million.

Remember, this is a Green Bay Packers team that doesn’t have a ton of spendable cap space at the moment and that’s a major reason why they have been so quiet during free agency. On top of that, in 2021 David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark, Aaron Jones, Kevin King, Jamaal Williams, and Corey Linsley are all pending free agents. And Green Bay is going to need a good chunk of cap space available if they intend to keep as many of those players as they can.

Although adding Cooks to this offense would give Green Bay the major boost that they need, given his contract situation and the Packers cap situation, without some major restructuring of current contracts or potential cuts, I’m not sure how likely this trade actually is. So while it is certainly fun to think about, I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up at this time.