Friday 10 April 2020 20:07, UK
The Los Angeles Rams agreed to trade wide receiver Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round pick to the Houston Texans in exchange for a second-round pick, multiple outlets reported on Thursday evening.
The Rams reportedly will receive the 57th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, scheduled for April 23-25, while sending a 2022 fourth-rounder to Houston.
The Texans still have a second-round pick later this month, No. 40 overall, which was acquired from the Cardinals in the trade that sent DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona.
Cooks, 26, is getting dealt for the third time in his six-year career, with the first two deals - from the New Orleans Saints to New England in March 2017 and from the Patriots to the Rams in April of 2018 - involving first-round picks.
Cooks' $4m roster bonus became guaranteed on March 15, and his 2020 base salary of $8m became fully guaranteed on March 20. After 2020, he has three additional years and $39m - none of which is guaranteed - remaining on his contract through 2023.
The Rams will owe $21.8m in dead money on their salary cap by trading Cooks. They will absorb all of that in 2020 unless the trade is processed after June 1, which would split it into charges of $8.8m in 2020 and $13m in 2021.
Los Angeles is without a first-round pick in this year's draft, but it now has two second-rounders (52nd and 57th overall) and two third-rounders (84th and 104th).
Cooks had 42 catches for 583 yards and two touchdowns in 14 games (all starts) last season, with the catches and touchdowns both marking career lows. He missed two games after sustaining two concussions in less than a month, giving him five known concussions during his career.
In 88 career games (77 starts), Cooks has 402 catches for 5,730 yards and 34 touchdowns.
He joins a Texans receiving corps that includes Will Fuller, Kenny Stills and Randall Cobb, who was signed from Dallas in free agency after the trade of Hopkins.
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