Getty Houston Texans WR Brandin Cooks.
With one move, the Las Vegas Raiders transformed their wide receiver corps. The addition of Davante Adams will be one of the biggest moves any team makes this offseason. The team already had solid offensive personnel but adding Adams to the fold gives them an elite group of playmakers.
Adams and Hunter Renfrow form a great duo but the Raiders could go crazy and try to create an elite trio. The team still doesn’t have a great speedy vertical option. Tyron Johnson is fast but he didn’t catch a single pass with the team last season. Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report proposes the Raiders make a “splash” trade and send the Houston Texans this year’s third-round draft pick and next year’s fourth-round pick for wide receiver Brandin Cooks:
Davante Adams is obviously the No. 1 receiver in Las Vegas. Hunter Renfrow is a great slot option, and Bryan Edwards continues to develop.
Those roles could all remain intact while giving Carr a highly productive No. 2 in Cooks. His contract would need to be restructured—his base salary for 2022 is $12.5 million, per Spotrac—but he’s ripe for an extension that would alleviate the cap issues he could bring.
Derek Carr might be the fourth-best quarterback in a division that happens to have two generational talents and an ascendant superstar. The best counter is to load Carr up with as many weapons as possible, and this is a move that is undeniably splashy.
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Cooks Would Be a Perfect Fit With Raiders
Cooks is one of the most underrated wide receivers in the NFL. In eight seasons, he’s broken 1,000 receiving yards six-time but has never been named to a Pro Bowl. Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels had success with Cooks as he was with the New England Patriots in 2017. That season, he had 65 catches for 1,082 yards. McDaniels knows how to use Cooks and he knows the offense. It would be a perfect fit.
Adams can do everything you’d want from a wide receiver but Cooks has more straight-line speed. He runs a 4.33 40-yard dash. Pairing him with Adams and Renfrow would give the Raiders one of the best wide receiver trios in the NFL. Derek Carr loves a good deep threat and Cooks would have another big year if he found himself in Las Vegas.
Brandin Cooks ANSWERS 🏹
Loading up on Weapons
Ballentine brought up a good point. Carr is very good but he’s still the fourth-best quarterback in the AFC West. To combat that, the Raiders could just load up on weapons. Even without a trade for Cooks, the team has great weapons. Adams is the best wide receiver in the NFL, Renfrow is one of the best slot receivers, Darren Waller is a top-three tight end and Josh Jacobs is a top-10 running back.
Carr has plenty of weapons to work with and the Raiders might have the best in the AFC West with Tyreek Hill getting traded from the Kansas City Chiefs. Adding Cooks would definitively give Las Vegas the best weapons in the division.
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