There have been countless stories of NFL players finding out they’ve been traded via ESPN or Twitter rather than hearing first hand from their now-former club that they’ve been dealt.
Take Kendall Fuller, for example. The cornerback was positive he wouldn’t be traded when the Washington Redskins acquired quarterback Alex Smith from the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this offseason. Fuller didn’t initially believe the reports he was reading on Twitter, but eventually, he got a call from the Redskins letting him know about the decision.
But that’s not how things are done in New England.
The Patriots sent shockwaves through the NFL on Tuesday when they traded wide receiver Brandin Cooks to the Los Angeles Rams along with a fourth-round draft pick. In exchange, the Patriots received the No. 23 overall pick and a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft.
Cooks was introduced in LA on Thursday, and he opened up about how Bill Belichick informed him about the move.
“They gave me a call about an hour before it happened,” Cooks said, via Joe Curley of Ventura County Star. “I have a ton of respect for him (Belichick) and we have a ton of respect for each other. You hear the horror stories of guys finding out on Twitter, but at the end of the day, you know the way that they run things over there and the respect that we have for each other, he gave me a call and gave me a heads up. And at the end of the day, all you can do is respect that and have to understand it’s a business.”
Just another way the Patriots operate differently than other teams.
