Be careful what you wish for.
A stir-crazy Brandin Cooks stirred further trade rumors after a cryptic message on Twitter.
“Free me 🤦🏿♂️,” the 26-year-old Rams receiver wrote on Friday.
The tweet was immediately interpreted as a Stefon Diggs-esque trade request, but teammate Cooper Kupp was quick to quote-tweet, “From quarantine. (Just to clarify)”
Cooks confirmed with the reply, “To someone who knows me! 🏹”
Whether Cooks’ frustration was actually aimed at the quarantine or the Rams, the former first rounder could be on the move this offseason for the third time in his career, likely for a lot less this time around.
“Brandin Cooks has been traded twice in his career (Saints to Patriots, Patriots to Rams), with a first-round pick included on each occasion,” NFL.com’s Michael Silver wrote on Twitter on Mar. 16. “The 7th-year WR could be traded again this offseason, and it likely wouldn’t take a 1.”
The Saints traded up seven spots to secure the Oregon State product in the 2014 NFL Draft. After recording three solid seasons in New Orleans, he was dealt to the Patriots in 2017 for a first and third round pick.
One year later, Cooks was traded to the Rams and inked a five-year, $81 million contract extension with $49.5 million guaranteed. He carries a 2020 cap hit of $16.8 million and a dead cap hit of $29.8 million according to Spotrac.
Cooks missed multiple games after suffering two concussions in a 25-day span and finished the 2019 season with 42 catches, 583 yards and two touchdowns, his worst campaign since his rookie year. He has now suffered five known concussions in his six-year career, including one in Super Bowl LII.
“My best landing spots for Cooks, if the Rams would entertain a deal, would be Philadelphia, Green Bay, Oakland or Washington,” Pro Football Talk’s Peter King wrote on Sunday. “Of course, the strength of the receiver group in this draft will affect any of those teams’ willingness to pursue Cooks.”
The scenarios laid out by King would send the Rams the 53rd overall pick from Philadelphia, the 62nd pick from Green Bay, the 80th and 121st pick from the Raiders or the 66th pick from the Redskins.