On Thursday, the Houston Texans went out and traded for DeAndre Hopkins’ replacement by acquiring Brandin Cooks from the Los Angeles Rams. Houston gave up their 2020 second round pick (No. 57 overall) for the 26-year-old wideout.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a terrible trade at all for Houston, but one sweep over some of the details and it’s pretty clear they once again got played by another front office.
Cooks is a solid player, but with five concussions on his resume, inlcuding two in a 25 day span in 2019, one more serious blow to the head could potentially end his career. Even without the concussions, Cooks is a big downgrade from Hopkins.
Cooks’ contract isn’t very ideal either, which is a big reason why he was even on the trading block in the first place. He’ll count for $8 million against the cap this year, then that number goes up to $12 million next season, and up by one million each year until his contract’s up in 2023.
On top of all that, giving up a second round pick for an injury prone receiver on a bad contract, when this draft is loaded with wide receiver talent, just doesn’t make any sense. Not only could they have gotten a very promising wide receiver prospect with that second round pick, they wouldn’t have to pay him half of what they’re going to pay Cooks this season.
Bill O’Brien continues to prove why he’s one of the worst general managers in the league with this deal, and his failures are just further proof that head coaches and general managers should be two separate jobs.
The Texans will still have a solid receiving group if Cooks can stay healthy, but again, they gave up too much for him when they could’ve gotten a much cheaper and younger wideout in the draft.
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