Brandin Cooks was held in high regard by the Patriots, but it appears the market got too rich for their blood.

While appearing on the Patriots pregame show on 98.5 The Sports Hub prior to New England's Week 4 matchup with the Miami Dolphins, the MMQB's Albert Breer brought to light some new details about the offseason trade that landed Cooks with the Rams, while the Patriots received a first round pick which turned into Isaiah Wynn.

Talks between the two sides began in February with Los Angeles originally asking about Rob Gronkowski along with Cooks. The Patriots shut the door on any possible trade regarding Cooks, but kept it open some as it related to Rob Gronkowski at the time. After the wide receiver market exploded in free agency, the Patriots had a change of heart on Cooks as well as Gronk.

"This is the way that the Cooks trade went down, okay." Breer said. "In February the Rams called the Patriots about two players. Look, these types of calls happen all the time, so I don't want to make it sound like, 'Oh, the Patriots are taking calls.' Everybody calls about everybody."

Breer continued: "This is they way it went down: the Rams called the Patriots about Gronk and about Cooks. [The Rams] got a maybe on Gronk and a no on Cooks in February. Then Sammy Watkins gets paid, then Mike Evans gets paid, the Allen Robinson gets paid and all of a sudden when the Rams called them back it went from a maybe to no on Gronk and then from no to yes on Cooks."

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Once the deal was struck, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels even sent Rams head coach Sean McVay a message about Cooks signifying that they clearly liked the player.

"Josh McDaniels texted Sean McVay on the day of the trade saying 'You're going to love this guy,'" Breer said. "All I'm telling you is that it was very clear that they like the player because the player was unavailable before the market exploded."

While clearly the Patriots weren't going to break the bank on the receiver, his ability to stretch the field was something that New England sorely lacked in the first month of the season and part of the reason why the acquisition of Josh Gordon was so imperative. That conversation came about because of the Patriots' struggles on offense this season coupled with Cooks' strong showing in a seven catch, 116 yard and a touchdown performance against the Vikings on Thursday Night Football.

As for the Gronkowski aspect to this nugget from Breer, it's pretty curious when you consider the timeline of events that surrounded the tight end this offseason.

Cooks was officially traded to the Rams on April 3 this pass offseason. As Breer notes, it was a that juncture that they were not shopping Rob Gronkowski. Fast-forward just a few weeks later and the team was deep in discussions that almost shipped him to the Detroit Lions. While Gronkowski never wound up getting moved, clearly it was an up-and-down offseason on the Patriots side of things as they mulled dealing the All-Pro.