That's fine. The way 1st round picks are coveted these days I just don't see it. Only 65 catches on 114 targets last year. As much as it would immensely please me if that's because Brady was awful throwing to Cooks, I somehow doubt that's the whole story.

Also, I probably wouldn't care if it were anybody but the Patriots. I continue to be dumbfounded by how much they get back in trades. Can't Belichick please get bored and retire already?

Yeah... it does piss me off how Dolphins can't get close to a 1st in trades but ol' Billy does it again!

i don’t picture Belichix wanting OBJ in his locker room, and at whatever monstrous price they would have to re-sign him for

their whole deal is to start used car salesman at WR and when their CTE gets bad enough rotate them out for the next schlub

Not just a first, they moved up 9 spots from the 32nd pick they sent to NO last year. I'm less sold on Cooks as a gamechanger after watching him weekly for a year. I'm aware of the "profile" that travels with him, but he does not create space on his own, doesn't make people miss after the catch, and doesn't always finish plays.

plus he hasn't sold a pre-owned vehicle in years

i've been wearing a rams t-shirt all day

Cooks essentially averages 70/100/7 since he came into the league, and he's only 24. He's very good and NO and NE likely traded him for the same reason, to get better on defense/O-line, not because they didn't like him. I think he has his best season this year.

sometimes i feel like you and i are the same person

yep, giving a master class in how not to build a team

they paid a one and a two for two (high-priced) years of production for the fourth option in their offense (watkins last year and cooks this year), acquired three notoriously uncoachable shitheads hoping they can be managed by a 32 year old coach, and are dicking around with the one guy they should have paid first (aaron donald)

it reads to me that these are business decisions - put Asses In Seats and establish some kind of credibility with a new fan base - rather than football decisions

Smart take. Do we think they can win a lot of games this year with this talent tho?

have you not watched bill belichick the last 18 years? why would he give up ten potential years of team control (at least seven of which are likely to played by the player at a level that exceeds his compensation, making those seven or eight years extremely valuable in maximizing the overall value extracted from the cap) plus the opportunity cost of whatever other players could be retained and/or acquired with the $20mm+ OBJ would make? to say nothing of the fact OBJ would be the third option in the pats offense and be paid more than brady, gronk, and edelman (he would make four or five times what edelman would make)?

this isn't tampa bro

lol, did you watch him last year?

he's a good player, but he is not much of a route runner. he couldn't separate to save his life (rewatch the miami game late in the year when xavier howard - whoever the fck that is - completely shut him down). all he has is speed; he can take the top off the defense, but he is not a threat on short or intermediate routes that require the receiver to actually separate from the corner. sure, sometimes coaches can scheme him - or any player, really - open, but is that the kind of guy you for which you want to give up a first, $8.5mm, and potentially a bigger contract than that down the road?

traded #32 for one year of solid production from cooks and the #23 overall pick

he's a goddamn wizard, and no fan or executive seems interested in actually understanding how and why the patriots operate they way they do. so it damn goes i guess

yep all this, and at a price tag double the cost of edelman and around what gronk makes

he's a good player, but really bad value at $8.5mm next year, plus what his contract demands would have been going forward. and does anyone doubt he'll make $18mm+ next year after what the chiefs payed for that goddamn stiff watkins?

i'll take that bet

he's the fourth option on offense, behind gurley, kupp, and woods. he's going to a play-action, bubble-screen team that threw the ball 70% of the time under ten yards from the line of scrimmage, and cooks' strengths play into goff's weaknesses

he'll be lucky to catch 40 balls next year

Xavien Howard came on real strong for Miami once he recovered from his injury.. (I think from like week 12 forward). He shut down everybody when healthy. I didn't watch that many Patriots games... I'm mostly going by Cooks' Madden ratings... which tend to be pretty accurate

yeah howard looked really good. point was, cooks got shut down regularly and really struggled to get separation against good corners, which is precisely why they had no interest in paying him and why it was foolish for LA to give up the 23rd pick for him, especially given that he's going to be the fourth option, at best

why have two really good coaches given up on cooks in each of the last two offseasons? and why did NO's offense improve so much without him? (that's not an argument saying cooks was the reason NO's offense wasn't performing; it's an argument that receivers are seriously overvalued in today's NFL and that the only positions on offense that should command a premium are QB and OL)

if malcolm mitchell is healthy - a big if, i grant - he'll easily match cooks' production next year

they'll make the playoffs but i doubt they'll win more than one game

i don't think they make the super bowl. i'm not sold on goff...at all. and i think they're going to have real culture problems, especially if they lose a few early that they shouldn't. this is the type of team with a decently high ceiling but a really, really low floor.