Bill Belichick pulled out some more of his off-season magic last Friday, March 10. Brandin Cooks, formerly of the New Orleans Saints, had been available via trade since the start of the off season. The Patriots initially offered up just one first-round pick, but that was reportedly turned down, as the Saints wanted more than just a single first-round pick.

However, this offer is ultimately what the Saints accepted. They gave up not only Cooks, but also a fourth-round pick in exchange for New England’s thirty-second overall pick in this upcoming draft. The addition of Cooks on the Patriots’ offense gives Tom Brady a weapon he hadn’t seen since early in the 2010 season, when Moss still played for the Patriots.

Brandin Cooks is one of the league’s most talented receivers. Yet he hasn’t been given the opportunity to shine in his career, being stuck on a team that had missed the playoffs in each of his three seasons. Even though Cooks had been catching passes from Drew Brees, the Saints haven’t been able to be the powerhouse they were in the past. New Orleans is currently on a three-year playoff drought, despite having one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks and coaches. Over his first three seasons, the 23-year-old wide out has caught 215 passes, for 2,861 yards with 20 TDs.

Obviously, the Patriots have done fine without a guy like Cooks, as they are coming off a Super Bowl win. However, it certainly does help to give Brady someone to pass to like Cooks. Not only that, but Cooks is considered to be one of the fastest receivers in the NFL.

Again, the team is coming off a Super Bowl victory, their second in three years. So you would think that they don’t really need any help on offense. However, with Rob Gronkowski’s health more up in the air than ever before, the Patriots will need a level of certainty heading into this season. Julian Edelman can only carry the team’s receiving core for so long before he starts to be covered more thoroughly. Adding Cooks into the fold gives the Patriots two dangerous pass catchers without having to bank on Gronkowski’s health.

The real win of this acquisition, however, is not only that the Patriots received Cooks, but how much of a steal the trade was. The Saints, according to rumors, had an offer from the Titans for their sixteenth overall pick in exchange for Cooks. For some reason, they turned this trade down in favor of New England’s offer, for their first-round pick that is 16 picks after Tennessee’s. The Patriots came out of this deal unscathed, even after it was reported that the Saints were seeking Malcolm Butler in return.

The trade really doesn’t make much sense for New Orleans, but it certainly does for New England. With rumors still flying that Belichick is putting Malcolm Butler on the market and the Saints listed as a possible destination, only time will tell what will come of it, and whether anything will come out of this supposed word-of-mouth deal that the two teams may have had.

Cooks was with the Saints for three seasons, which is the same length of time the team has been in their current playoff drought. Even with Brady getting older, with not many years left, Jimmy Garoppolo looks to be a very talented QB that could lead New England into its next era of dominance.
The bottom line is that the Patriots have added one of the youngest and most talented receivers in the game onto their team, who will finally get the attention he deserves, seeing as he now plays for a team that could easily win the Super Bowl this upcoming season.
Cooks could very well be part of the next generation of New England greats, which should be an exciting idea for Pats fans everywhere.