It has certainly been a whirlwind offseason for the New England Patriots. With a Super Bowl appearance this past season, many would have expected New England’s offseason moves to be in line with the usual small tweaks here and there but largely keeping the same roster intact. However, if we have learned anything from the stories over the last few months, it is that things are not “business as usual” in Foxboro. After losing big name free agents like Danny Amendola, Malcolm Butler, Nate Solder, and Dion Lewis, it was already certain that the Patriots were going to look very different next season. However, nobody really saw the most recent move coming.
At the very least, amidst all the Rob Gronkowski uncertainty, most believed that the Patriots would ride into next season with Brandin Cooks and Julian Edelman, who is now returning from a torn ACL. However, this plan was upended on April 3, when the Patriots traded Cooks and a fourth round pick to the Los Angeles Rams for the twenty-third overall pick and a seventh round pick n this year’s draft. This comes as quite a surprise given the hype that surrounded New England acquiring Cooks roughly a year ago.
Even after all the hype, Cooks still turned in an extremely productive season for the Patriots. He played in all 16 games. Cooks caught 65 passes for 1,082 yards, and had seven touchdowns. One would think that those would be good enough numbers to earn him a spot with the Patriots, right? Not to Bill Belichick. While we, as fans, all viewed Cooks as someone that would be a Patriot for a long time, Belichick saw him as a player on an expiring contract, playing a position that he has had a lot of success coaching up. While it obviously hurts to lose a talent like Cooks, this is not the type of move that will break the Patriots.
The Patriots were supposed to have a historic offense last season, but were robbed of that before the season when Edelman tore his ACL. However, the Patriots added Cooks to a team that was coming off a Super Bowl victory. Provided Gronkowski doesn’t retire, the Patriots will still have two elite targets for Tom Brady at the start of the season. That’s not to mention the Patriots got an excellent return for Cooks, opening a whole new list of options to improve the team.
With the twenty-third pick, New England now has two first round selections, and four in the first two rounds. There are a number of directions New England could go in, whether it is taking a player on the defensive line, adding a left tackle to replace Solder, or maybe even adding a wide receiver to replace Cooks for a cheaper price. If they wanted to, the Patriots could even package their picks to move into the top ten of the draft, possibly to take a quarterback that could be ready to replace Brady once he retires. This trade give the Patriots innumerable options moving forward, and if there is one thing Belichick has always loved, it’s flexibility.

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