I'm not even sure the great guy and teammate part is true. There were issues here in New Orleans which brought on the Pats trade. Part of it was Cooks complaining or acting unhappy after a few Saints wins because he had no or very few targets and/or catches.

Didn't a lot of that have to do with Sean Payton, too? That guy picks favorites an buries players he doesn't like, no matter how productive they prove to be.

Very true. Honestly, there was a lot of things that made the rounds when this trade was going down, and I can't vouch for the veracity of any of it. Just to try to cover some of it:

1. Payton definitely picks his guys. This may have been the reason for the reduced targets, but the emergence of Thomas plays a part here as well. Cooks was looking to get paid (as we just saw), and Payton had his eye on Thomas rather than Cooks.
2. There were rumors that Cooks complained about Brees' arm strength and that he couldn't get the ball downfield. By all accounts, he liked Brees, but even this possible slight is not a good move in a city where Brees is basically god, regardless of the accuracy of the complaint.
3. There was enough going on where people thought some of Thomas' post-trade Twitter moves were intentionally meant to dig at Cooks. However, plenty of his teammates came out to support him when the trade was announced.

Again, this could all just be rumor, but there are quite a few things there. I can't imagine everything was perfect behind the scenes.

For a receiver to complain about Brees is hilarious. Run a better route guy, Drew Brees can put a ball on a nats ass 30 yards away and not get you killed. He’s perfected the back shoulder throw. If you can’t catch 80 balls on that team the problem is you.

He played with two of the best QBs of his era already.

Right, so they are taking the Seattle approach... no OLmen and see how it works out.


Right, now all of the money is being handed out before he turns 30, but it's still a seemingly strange way to divvy up their cap dollars.

Yea, he's complaining about the guy who owns records for most completions in a season and highest career completion percentage. Maybe he can't throw absolute bombs, but he can certainly get you the ball.

I have no idea what happened in New Orleans, but he was a consummate professional and teammate in NE. Did what was asked, never complained, never took plays off, got along with everyone. I'm sure Belichick would have kept him at the right price, though that's obviously true of any player.

it feels good to be arguing about football again

This doesn't surprise me as Belichick often seems to have little problem with those who may have been disgruntled elsewhere.

It was rare, but there were times when he seemed to think the ball wasn't coming his way and slowed his route or wasn't expecting the throw and short-armed his attempted grab.

This gets to some of what I was referencing with misinformation, and I thank you for this post. I HATE this thing where a player changes teams and to the team he's going to he's suddenly perfect, and to fans of the team he left he's suddenly shit, and I was getting a little whiff of that when we first started talking about Cooks. It's my least favorite thing about the NFL and sports in general.

This has been a good discussion and illustrates the many ways you can think about the modern NFL. I'd like to point out that I contended the Pats traded Cooks in part to re-up their O-line, which is exactly what they did, netting their OT of the future with the Rams pick.

It's also interesting to consider another team that was even more conservative than New England with their cap and player management over the last decade--Green Bay. If they are a little more aggressive in FA and the trade market, do they have another title? Two more titles? The talent was certainly there, especially on offense, but they were let down by their defense and the rest of their roster more than a few times. Everyone remembers the teams that went big and fucked it up, but we rarely talk about teams that twiddled their thumbs too much and missed out on greatness. I was reading an article the other day that pointed out that most Super Bowls won over the last two decades are by teams with a QB+Coach combo in their first five years together, and very few are won outside that window. I think McVay is of the same mindset--that the future is now and there's no sense in waiting--and that's what's driving these moves. Could it all blow up in their face? Sure. But this could also be what gets them over the hump. I'm sure as shit interested to watch their games this year.

There is no doubt that the Rams have improved their team on both sides of the ball for this season and probably 2019. After that, they'll have a shiny new stadium to fill. Hopefully things go better than the 9ers first season in there new stadium.

I love what the Rams have done the past two off seasons. They are easily the favorite in the division now. Cooks is way underrated also.

I like their new slogan, too: "Ram it in"

James Winston is still on the Bucs, brah.

Lol. Hoping they cut him soon

Julio Jones is in camp and happy.

Last year was such a bummer with injuries to major players. I'm already bracing myself but I'm really hoping people actually stay healthy this year.

This is a good point.

Which teams are you referring to here?