Brandin Cooks trade narrows Odell Beckham Jr. market
By John Buhler
With the Brandin Cooks trade between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams, that certainly has an impact on the Odell Beckham Jr. trade market.
The Los Angeles Rams continue their monumental offseason efforts, as general manager Les Snead has orchestrated another massive trade. Los Angeles was able to pry wide receiver Brandin Cooks away from the New England Patriots for the Rams’ No. 23 overall pick. The Rams have appropriately replaced Sammy Watkins, but now are out of the market for New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Beckham had been considered as a potential trade piece for new Giants general manager Dave Gettleman. With Beckham’s on-field antics, off-field issues and coming off an injury, maybe the Giants would consider parting ways with their best player?
The truth be told is that it is never advisable to trade away a team’s best player. However, the Giants are a long way away from contending in 2018. Keep in mind that they went a miserable 3-13 just a year ago. That being said, how does the Beckham trade market look after this latest deal between the Patriots and Rams?
Well, it makes it more likely that Beckham will be staying punt in New York. Realistically, the two teams that could land him are the Cleveland Browns or the Miami Dolphins. Cleveland has the draft capital to help out a team like the Giants. He would also be reunited with former LSU teammate in Jarvis Landry.
Even more interesting, Beckham could be the guy that replaces Landry on the Dolphins down in South Beach. Miami won’t be very good either, but they could be in line for a replacement for Landry for sure. Then again, they do have Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker in the receiving corps.
If we are looking outside of Cleveland and Miami, maybe the Carolina Panthers are a team that could be interested in acquiring Beckham? Just imagine him catching slants from Cam Newton. NFL Twitter would explode on a 60-yard touchdown strike from Cam to OBJ. A boy can dream…
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All this aside, seeing Cooks go to the Rams probably means that the Beckham to the team wasn’t possible. If he ends up playing in Hollywood, that might be up to the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers might be favored to win a down AFC West. Putting him in the same receiving corps as Keenan Allen could make the Chargers a legitimate Super Bowl contender in 2018.