It’s rare for a player to be traded twice in his career, let alone for a first-round pick each time. Brandin Cooks is among that small group, and this offseason, it seemed possible that he could be dealt for a third time.
His name, along with Todd Gurley’s, came up in trade rumors often this spring and it was reported that the Rams were open to trading him. That doesn’t mean they were shopping him, but if the right offer came along, they might move Cooks.
On a conference call Monday, Sean McVay addressed the rumors surrounding Cooks and confirmed that the Rams have gotten calls about the wide receiver. They seem reluctant to trade him, though, and view him as a big part of the offense.
“When you’ve got a player of his caliber, there’s a lot of conversations. Teams call, he’s put such good stuff on tape, so we have had teams that have reached out about that,” McVay said. “But when you look at what he’s been able to do – even going back to his first year with us – the way he was able to impact the game in a lot of ways. He kind of took that starting X-receiver position, really ran with it, had a career year where he’s over 1,200 yards receiving.”
McVay lauded Cooks on and off the field, highlighting his work ethic and ability to overcome the setbacks that came with suffering two concussions. That missed time really set Cooks’ season back, limiting him to 14 games and causing him to miss practices.
But McVay doesn’t view the concussions as a concern moving forward, saying this about it: “As we continue to educate ourselves, that’s not something that you worry about.”
With all that said, McVay feels good about Cooks entering the 2020 season based on his production in the Rams’ offense and work ethic.
“The track record, the production, the human being – all those things align, and certainly there’s teams that have reached out because they see the same things that we value about the player,” McVay said.
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