NFL trade grades: Was Cooks deal a lose-lose for Texans, Rams?

Houston Texans head coach and de facto general manager Bill O'Brien appears to be drunk with power.

In the latest of a long line of recent blockbuster trades made by the AFC South club, O'Brien attempted to fix his previous mistake of shipping off DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for pennies on the dollar by acquiring another highly productive wideout in Brandin Cooks from the Los Angeles Rams.

Did O'Brien succeed in upgrading his offense or is it another head-scratcher? Let's grade the trade from both Houston's and L.A.'s perspectives.

Texans grade: D-

Let's start with the obvious: Cooks isn't a like-for-like replacement for Hopkins - far from it.

Hopkins is a year older, but his career yards (8,602) and touchdowns (54) easily outshine Cooks' (5,730 and 34, respectively). Moreover, before playing with Deshaun Watson, Hopkins was catching passes from a selection of journeymen, while Cooks enjoyed the benefit of playing alongside future Hall of Famers Tom Brady and Drew Brees.

While Hopkins' production dropped from 1,572 yards in 2018 to 1,165 last season (in one fewer game), he still easily outproduced Cooks, whose 584 yards (in 14 games) was the second-lowest total of his career.

Cooks is more of a deep threat than Hopkins is, but his career yards-per-catch average of 14.3 barely beats out Hopkins' 13.6, though it was significantly better last season (13.9 to 11.2).

The other issue is that Cooks' skill set won't provide much that the Texans don't already have. Will Fuller and Kenny Stills are both deep threats who actually benefited from Hopkins dominating the intermediate area. Now, unless O'Brien plans for Watson to throw deep on every other pass, one of the wideouts will be forced into an unsuitable role or to the bench.

As far as the cost goes, O'Brien has little regard for draft value. He received only a third-round selection for Jadeveon Clowney and a second for Hopkins while sending two firsts and a second for Laremy Tunsil and Stills. By shipping off another second for Cooks, Houston is woefully lacking in draft picks for the foreseeable future.

In the upcoming draft, the Texans have just three picks (No. 40, No. 90, and No. 111) within the top 170 selections. Next year, they don't have a pick until the third round. Houston is going to struggle to reload its roster with young and, more importantly, cheap talent. With big paydays coming for Watson, Tunsil, and Fuller, the Texans could struggle to balance their roster and manage the cap.

Cooks' contract isn't terrible, especially if he can return to the form he was in when he had three straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2016 to 2018. He has a cap hit of $8 million in 2020, $12 million in 2021, $13 million in 2022, and $14 million in 2023. Only his 2020 salary is guaranteed, so the Texans can cut him after this season with no financial penalty.

That said, he will cost far more than the rookie wideout who could've been taken in the second round, and this receiver class has been lauded as the best in years. While most teams opted out of the free-agent market because of that reason, the Texans have gone the opposite route, trading for Cooks and signing Randall Cobb.

O'Brien reportedly traded Hopkins because the star wanted a pay increase (he was set to have base salaries of $13.5 million and $13.9 million in 2020 and 2021, respectively) and the head coach didn't believe he was worth it.

If Hopkins signed for $19 or $20 million per season, that would've barely exceeded the combined cost of Cooks and Cobb - the latter received $18 million guaranteed in his three-year, $27-million deal - over the next two seasons. Who would you rather have?

Rams grade: C

The Rams went all-in to win a Super Bowl and are now literally paying the price for their aggressiveness.

Not only will Cooks account for $21.8 million on the Rams' books in 2020, but Todd Gurley will also carry an $11.75-million dead-money hit after surprisingly being released - the running back would've counted for $20.15 million if he was designated a post-June 1 cut to spread out the hit.

This means the Rams will have $33.55 million or roughly 17% of the $198-million cap tied up on two players who aren't on the team. To make matters worse, L.A. already paid Cooks a $4-million roster bonus because it waited until after March 15 to trade him.

While the Rams deserve criticism for handing out big-money extensions in 2018 to Cooks and Gurley only to part ways with both two years later, they were able to receive a shockingly high return for the former.

For the fifth year in a row, the Rams won't have a first-round pick - this time due to the acquisition of Jalen Ramsey. But the club now has the No. 57 overall selection to go along with No. 52, No. 84, and No. 104. It's not ideal, but L.A. should be able to reload its roster with some young talent to help offset the massive costs of Jared Goff and Aaron Donald.

Cooks' career also appeared in jeopardy last season when he suffered his fifth known concussion in six years. While it could be seen as callous, it was probably smart for the Rams to move on from the receiver knowing he was one hit away from another lengthy absence.

L.A. already has two good wideouts atop its depth chart in Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, each of whom racked up 1,000 yards in 2019. Head coach Sean McVay also has a solid tight end duo in Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett, who he's underutilized to this point, and fourth-year wideout Josh Reynolds could take on a larger role.

The sunk cost of initially trading a first-rounder for Cooks and then paying him $42 million over the last two years shouldn't be ignored. L.A. backed itself into a corner by overlooking long-term pains for short-term gains. If that resulted in a Lombardi Trophy, few would question the strategy. But the Rams fell short against the Patriots 14 months ago, and the bill is still due.

(Contract details courtesy of Over The Cap)