Brandin Cooks $80 Million Contract Confirms Belichick Was Smart to Trade Him

And that, my fellow Wall Defenders, explains everything.

This is why Bill Belichick moved on from Brandin Cooks last Spring. It’s not because we can’t have nice things. It’s because we can’t have nice things at premium wide receiver prices. Cooks was an electric factory last year. Some people squawked about how he wasn’t as productive as we thought he’d be coming over from New Orleans for a first rounder, which is nonsense. As at best a No. 2 option with Julian Edelman missing the year, he still came ridiculously close to matching his 2016 Saints numbers. Fewer catches but only 89 fewer yards and YPC that was 1.6 higher than it was catching balls from Drew Brees. He was a good compliment to Gronk, Danny Amendola and Chris Hogan. Excelled in the deep passing game but also on comebackers. And he had this clutch catch to beat Houston the highlight of the first half of the season:

He’s no longer here not because he can’t play tackle football. But because after three straight 1,100 yard(ish) seasons, he was getting PAID. By someone. Just not the Patriots. In order to match the deal the Rams gave him, the Pats would have had to make him the highest paid player on the roster. By far. To put it in perspective, the current highest paid in terms of total money left on his contract is Stephon Gilmore, with five years and $52 million. Next is Gronk with two years and about $19 million. Followed by Devin McCourty with four and $38 million. All of whom play positions that are infinitely more valuable to them than wide receiver, a position they just don’t worry about because there is always another Hogan or Jordan Mathews looking to catch passes from Brady, either to chase a ring or increase his value on the market. The way Cooks just did. And good for him. He’s earned it.

The question going forward will be whether the Rams made the right move. A team that is feeling around under the sofa cushions to find the loose change to pay Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and their most important asset, Aaron Donald, is probably shooting themselves in the foot paying dumptrucks filled with gold bars to a player who averaged four catches per game last year. No matter how much I enjoyed watching him play. These signings never happen in a vacuum. And we’ll see how Donald deals with them paying all this money to a guy who hasn’t played a game for them while he’s been fighting for an extension for well over a year now.

All I know is Belichick got a higher pick for Cooks (the 23rd overall) than the one they used to acquire him (the 32nd), used it on Isaiah Wynn, a 320lb space-eating interior pass protector they need, and saved themselves a fuckton of cap space to redo Gronk in the coming weeks. Right again, Belichick.