The New England Patriots continued their anything is possible offseason as they traded receiver Brandin Cooks to the Los Angeles Rams along with a fourth-round draft pick. The Patriots will receive the Rams' first- and sixth-round draft picks.
This gives the Patriots five picks in the first three rounds, with two firsts and two seconds. It is arguably the biggest draft pick collection heading into a draft that head coach Bill Belichick has ever had to work with in New England.
Surely, this means that more trades are on the way.
The receiver depth chart
Trading away Cooks leaves a pretty big hole at wide receiver. Cooks was one of the team's top targets in 2017, filling in admirably for star Julian Edelman, who was lost for the year to a knee injury. The current Patriots receiver corps is Edelman, Chris Hogan, Malcom Mitchell, Kenny Britt, and Cordarrelle Patterson. While Patterson is being looked at mostly as a return man, this leaves the team with just one major contributor from last season at the position.
Edelman should bounce back from his injury, but knee injuries are always a risky gambit.
Mitchell too was hurt most of 2017 and Britt came on late in the year after being cut in Cleveland. After being loaded at the position in 2017, the Patriots are now in dire need of adding another reliable body or two before 2018 starts. The continued uncertainty regarding Rob Gronkowski's future only adds to the urgency.
Trading up?
Having two first-round picks is unheard of in the Belichick era. The team has often traded away the first-round pick, as it has almost always fallen at the end of the round. Trading down to the second round has had many cap benefits that Belichick loves to take advantage of.
Now that he has two first-round picks, could he trade them to go in the other direction? The 23rd and 31st picks that the team owns could be enough to trade up to somewhere in the nine-to-14 range.
That would be ideal if the team is looking to scoop up one of the highly touted quarterbacks that will dominate the first round.
Finding Tom Brady's successor has become a top priority now that heir apparent Jimmy Garoppolo has been traded to San Francisco. If the team could move up to the early to mid first round, they could be looking at guys like Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, or Mason Rudolph.
Each of the three quarterbacks features different playing styles, so it is hard to determine if the team is favoring any one of the three yet. Whether they use their draft capital to go after one player or use the picks to stock up on much-needed youth, the team will need to address the receiver issue sooner or later.
Waiting this long to make the trade kept the team from pursuing a number of the top free agent receivers. This makes it more likely that one of those picks in the first three rounds will see a receiver heading to New England.