Off the wire NFL tabs 58 for draft

Texans trade for Cooks

The Los Angeles Rams are trading receiver Brandin Cooks to the Houston Texans, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the teams hadn’t announced the deal. The NFL Network reported the Rams will get a second-round pick while sending a future fourth-rounder to Houston. Cooks will help the Texans replace DeAndre Hopkins, who was traded to the Arizona Cardinals last month for running back David Johnson and two draft picks. Cooks, who spent his first three NFL seasons with New Orleans, played the past two seasons with the Rams after they acquired him from New England. He caught 80 passes for 1,204 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2018 with the Rams’ NFC championship team. He managed just 42 catches last season while overcoming the latest in a series of concussions during his six-year NFL career.

Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and Ohio State edge rusher Chase Young are among 58 prospects who will participate remotely in the NFL Draft in two weeks that will double as a telethon to raise money to fight the coronavirus crisis. Burrow is one of eight LSU players who will take part in the April 23-25 draft, one more than Alabama. Normally, top prospects would be invited to the draft itself, but this year’s festivities in Las Vegas were scuttled by the coronavirus outbreak. The draft will instead be conducted in a studio with the league’s 32 teams participating remotely from their hometowns. The NFL also said that throughout the three-day draft it will host a “DraftA-Thon” to benefit coronavirus relief efforts, and pay tribute to health care workers and others on the front lines of the pandemic.

Cooks