New claim LA Rams RB Gurley and WR Cooks in Buccaneers’ sights?

The LA Rams are open to trading RB Todd Gurley and WR Brandin Cooks. Now, new claims suggest that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be interested in trading for both

The LA Rams need cap space. And the LA Rams need draft picks. The Rams are so desperate to free up available salary-cap space, that the team opted to not pick up the team-option year for CB Nickell Robey-Coleman.

To put this into proper perspective, he was a top-20 defensive back per Pro Football Focus’s ranking of 2019 defensive players.  And the next season would cost the Rams $4.5 million.  That’s petty change, and the Rams couldn’t spend it, even knowing the team would likely be able to initiate a trade at some future point in time to get some return, even a seventh-round draft pick.

Yes, it seems the Rams are desperate for salary cap space.  Thanks to committing a great deal of the team’s 2020 salary cap allotment to a handful of players, and those same players then stumbling to their career lows the following year.

That is what drove the persistent rumors about the team seeking a trade of both running back Todd Gurley and wide receiver Brandin Cooks.  In the right system, both players can excel at offensive production.  But the LA Rams were not that system in 2019, and may not be in 2020.
Pundits notice it too. NFLAnalysis.net Evan Massey reports that the Rams could trade Cooks in the days ahead.  CBSSports.com Tyler Sullivan reports a similar Rams interest in trading Gurley. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire?

Claims Bucs are interested in Gurley and Cooks surface

Right now, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on track to sign former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as soon as March 18, 2020, for approximately $30 million per year. Do the Bucs have that much money?  According to Spotrac.com, the Bucs have over $66 million to spend in free agency, so that’s a yes.

We had asserted that any team interested in signing Brady should be interested in trading for his favorite WR target from the Patriots, WR Brandon Cooks. At the time, the team was believed to be the Las Vegas Raiders. Right concept, wrong team?

Well, at least that is what Cecil Lammey, senior writer for FootballGuys.com is claiming:

He then doubled down on the claim with a follow-up comment on social media:

Could it be true?

Unconfirmed claims, but worth tracking

Neither claim has been recognized nor confirmed by the major authorities like Ian Rapoport or Adam Schefter. But the news is fast-paced at this point in the NFL Free Agency market, and the sheer volume of information developing is huge.

Reports out today are that neither Todd Gurley nor Brandin Cooks is following the Rams on social media. And Gurley did recognize the news report that Brady would be signing with the Bucs as well. This could all be circumstantial harmless events on both Gurley’s and Cooks’s parts. Or just two bored veterans having a bit of cryptic social media fun.

Right now, this is a very fluid and dynamic situation.  The Bucs have enough cap space to pull off a trade, and adding both Gurley and Cooks to the press conference release that they have signed Brady would place the entire NFC South division on notice.

However it ends up, there are plenty of people concluding that the Buccaneers are interested in trading with the LA Rams for two key offensive weapons.  If so, the LA Rams are desperate enough for salary cap space and draft picks that they will listen. Stay tuned.