Rams paid Brandin Cooks $40.459 million for two years

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Add Brandin Cooks to the list of recent contracts for which Kevin Demoff would like a Mulligan.

The Rams paid way too much to running back Todd Gurley in 2018 and way too much to quarterback Jared Goff in 2019. They’ve rectified (and admitted) a third mistake on Thursday, sending receiver Brandin Cooks and a 2022 fourth-round pick to the Texans for a 2020 second-round selection.

But the mistake was still costly. Based on the breakdown posted at PFT after the Cooks deal was signed, the Rams paid Cooks more than $40.4 million for two seasons of football.

From a $7 million signing bonus to a $4 million base salary in 2018 to a $9.459 million roster bonus in 2019 to a $16 million past salary in 2019 to a $4 million roster bonus in March 2020, that’s $40.459 million for two seasons — an average of $20.22 million per year.

For that investment, the Rams got 1,204 receiving yards in 2018 but only 583 in 2019. He also suffered a concussion in 2019, his fourth since Super Bowl LII, with the Patriots.