Were LA Rams wise to trade WR Brandin Cooks?

As November 2020 draws to a close, can we be sure that the LA Rams were wise to trade WR Brandin Cooks?

The LA Rams pulled off a mild surprise as the team prepared to enter the 2020 NFL Draft, as the team exchanged WR Brandin Cooks and a 2022 fourth-round draft pick to the Houston Texans for a 2020 second-round pick used to draft WR Van Jefferson.  Now, the question is, did either team come out markedly ahead in the exchange.

For starters, the addition of Cooks to the Rams offensive arsenal had a limited shelf-life. While he proved quite effective in the 2018 version of the LA Rams offense, he was simply not as effective in the 2019 version of the same offense. Defenses had caught up to the Rams’ offense, and the need for plays to develop downfield. Once that happened, defenses around the league found ways to shave vital seconds from the time needed to pressure a quarterback.

Rhythm is gonna get you

The Rams needed to change the rhythm of their offense. The team found itself far too vulnerable to plays that threatened defenses deep that took too much time, time that quarterback Jared Goff no longer had, and likely could no longer count on.  So the head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead were forced to make a decision.

Cooks threatened NFL defenses with his speed. While he was instrumental for the Rams in their 2018 season, his career-best, he had a sharp dropoff in 2019. Not only that, but he had just signed a lucrative contract with the Rams. So the Rams paid more for less, a difficult matter to be sure. Further complicating the situation was the frequency of concussions suffered by Cooks.  It was time for the Rams and Brandon Cooks to part on agreeable terms.