INDIANAPOLIS -- Remember that talk about a second-round pick being enough to land Saints receiver Brandin Cooks?
Not so fast.
The Patriots offered a package to the Saints for the 23-year-old wideout that included their first-round pick (the last in the round) and the Saints declined the offer, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
The Saints want a mid-first-round pick in return for Cooks, per the report.
Wouldn't you know, that's exactly where the Eagles' No. 14 happens to fall.
Now just because the Saints are insisting on a mid-first-round pick now, it doesn't necessarily mean that's the only thing they'd take for Cooks. It's just how negotiations work. What they have in their favor is that five teams, according to the report, have talked to them about the talented receiver.
Cooks has one more year on his rookie contract at a very minimal cap hit and then there's a club option for 2018 that would transfer to the Eagles in a trade. So the Eagles would have at least two years with Cooks if they can't work out a long-term extension, which would obviously be the goal.
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The Eagles could really use a big-time receiver like Cooks, who has gone over 1,000 yards in each of his last two seasons, his second and third in the NFL. And he's just the type of receiver -- a deep threat -- that the Eagles need. He caught as many 40-yard passes (six) and 50-yard passes as the Eagles in 2016.