Los Angeles Rams Acquire Brandin Cooks from the Patriots

Receiver Brandin Cooks was traded from the Patriots to the Rams the second straight offseason in which he has been traded

The Patriots didn't want to be left out of the offseason trade party, so they made a decision to send wide receiver Brandin Cooks to the Rams for Los Angeles's first-round pick, No. 23 overall.

In the deal, New England also sends a fourth-round choice to the Rams, who give the Patriots a sixth-rounder.

Cooks had a solid first (and only) season in New England, hauling in 65 receptions for 1,082 yards and seven touchdowns. The departure of Cooks means that the wide receiver group could use an addition. It later was reported that the trade had come at the behest of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, which Kraft and others in the organization vehemently denied.

After losing Sammy Watkins in free agency, it became apparent that Snead wasn't intent with drafting a young receiver.

Of course, there is a door No. 3 for the Patriots to walk down in an effort to win as much as possible before NFL MVP Tom Brady is ready to hang up his cleats: Trade for Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. But it wasn't until a chance meeting between Belichick and Rams head coach Sean McVay that a deal started to materialize.

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Cooks is set to make $8.5 million in the final year of his rookie contract.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who had praised Cooks' work ethic and hard work last season, reportedly is "not sad" about the trade.

Though Watkins had only 39 catches previous year, the August trade with Buffalo didn't land him with the Rams until training camp was done. While the asking price for Cooks was also steep, the Rams apparently felt more comfortable giving up the assets for Cooks. They previously traded for cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, then signed defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, whom they will introduce to the media Wednesday. That's never good news for the rest of the AFC East. Draft weekend just got even more interesting. Using that pick to find Garoppolo's replacement could help make up for one of Belichick's rare blunders. The Patriots need to be ready for it, while also being ready to compete in 2018.

Both Edelman and Mitchell are returning from injuries that forced them to miss the entire 2017-18 season.

From New England's perspective, it's hard not to wonder whether Bill Belichick is gearing up to shake up Round One of the National Football League draft and the potential QB sweepstakes. Belichick can handle the kid's attitude and curb his wayward tendencies and he could be the best value play - especially if three quarterbacks are drafted ahead of him - and Josh McDaniels could coach him up and scheme him up and put him in positions to replicate what he did best at Oklahoma.

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