New England Patriots Acquire Brandin Cooks, Kony Ealy in Separate Trades
The New England Patriots continued their active offseason today, trading for WR Brandin Cooks and DE Kony Ealy. The team is clearly all in for the 2017 season.
The New England Patriots have acquired two NFC South players today in separate trades. First, the Carolina Panthers dealt defensive end Kony Ealy to New England. Carolina also sent their third-round pick to Foxboro for the Patriots second-round pick.
Essentially, the Patriots moved down just eight spots in the draft, from 64 overall to 72.
It was a low-risk move for Bill Belichick and the Patriots, who acquire a young pass rush talent. Ealy, 25, started five games for the Panthers last season. In 16 total games, he totaled 5.0 sacks.
Ealy will join Rob Ninkovich and Trey Flowers in the pass rush rotation. He still has plenty of room for improvement and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia may be able to get the best out of Ealy.
The bigger move of the day came when the Saints sent wide receiver Brandin Cooks and a fourth round pick, 118th overall, to the Patriots for the 32nd and 103rd overall picks.
The #Patriots are trading for #Saints WR Brandin Cooks for a package that includes their No. 32 pick, sources say (as @diannaESPN reported.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2017
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Brandin Cooks was successful with New Orleans but became expendable as others emerged and New Orleans plans to focus on defense.
Over three years, Cooks hauled 215 receptions for 2,861 yards and 20 touchdowns from Drew Brees. He will now have the chance to catch long balls from Tom Brady as he aims to extend his 1,100 yards per season streak to three in a row.
According to Trey Wingo, Brandin Cooks has 11 touchdowns catches of 30 yards or more, only superstar Odell Beckham Jr. has more.
Brandin Cooks will get a lot of interest if on the trade market. Since 2014 Cooks has 11 TD grabs of 30 yards or more. Only Odell has more
— trey wingo (@wingoz) March 2, 2017
Tom Brady and Cooks will surely spend the offseason getting in sync. Expect to hear stories of Cooks, Edelman, and others meeting up with Brady.
Cooks’ cap hit is just $2.7 million in 2017, and there is also a team option to retain him in 2018.
Brandin Cooks will certainly start for New England. He’s added to a wide receiving corps of Edelman, Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell. This may be the strongest Patriots receiving corps since Randy Moss and Wes Welker played here together.
Next: Trade Jimmy Garoppolo Now
The Patriots are likely not done dealing yet. Look for them to make a few more trades, possibly gaining back some of their lost draft picks.