FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots have traded receiver Brandin Cooks to the Los Angeles Rams for the 23rd overall pick in this year’s draft.

As part of the deal, which was officially announced by the Rams on Tuesday night, New England also sent a fourth-round pick (No. 136 overall) to Los Angeles and received a sixth-round pick (No. 198 overall) from the Rams.

The deal helps both teams in different ways.

The Rams — who had explored a trade for Odell Beckham Jr. but liked the Cooks option better — were seeking a vertical threat for second-year coach Sean McVay’s dynamic offense after Sammy Watkins joined the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency.

The speedy Cooks, who totaled 65 receptions for 1,082 yards and seven touchdowns for the Patriots last season, fills that void alongside Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. Cooks had 16 receptions on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield last season, tied with DeAndre Hopkins for most in the NFL.

Several current Rams played took to Twitter to cheer the move.

Aw man the front office is out here cookin! ????? #Rams

— Rodger Saffold (@Rodger_Saffold) April 3, 2018

B Coooooooooks!!!!!!!!!
Let’s goooooooo! @brandincooks welcome to the squad brotha.#GoBeavs

— Johnny Hekker (@JHekker) April 3, 2018

Cooks had made a strong impression on many in New England after the team acquired him last offseason from the New Orleans Saints for a package that included the Patriots’ first-round pick (No. 32 overall), but he was entering the final year of his contract (due to earn $8.459 million) at a time when salaries for top pass-catchers have skyrocketed.

In choosing to trade Cooks, the Patriots were likely weighing their chances of re-signing him in 2019 while also working to accumulate assets at a time when quarterback Tom Brady turns 41 in August and tight end Rob Gronkowski appears to be on a year-to-year plan in terms of how much longer he will play.

The Patriots, who hope to sustain success as some of their star players enter the final stages of their careers, now have two first-round picks (No. 23, 31) and two second-rounders (No. 43, 63), along with a third-rounder (95), two sixth-rounders and a seventh-rounder this year.

As for their wide receiver depth chart, it is still well stocked with Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett, Malcolm Mitchell, Kenny Britt, Cordarrelle Patterson, Riley McCarron and Cody Hollister, although the club will miss Cooks’ blazing speed and durability, as he played 92.7 percent of the offensive snaps in the regular season and coach Bill Belichick said he never missed a practice.

Cooks had 10 catches for 155 yards in the postseason before being knocked out of the team’s Super Bowl LII loss to the Philadelphia Eagles with a concussion in the second quarter.

The 24-year-old Cooks, who entered the NFL as a first-round draft choice of the Saints in 2014, is the latest star acquisition for the Rams this offseason. They previously traded for cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, then signed defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, whom they will introduce to the media Wednesday.

There were still more than two hours of football left to be played in Juventus’ Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid when Cristiano Ronaldo delivered the final word. A brilliant bicycle kick stunned the Allianz Stadium to silence for a moment, before 40,000 fans rose to applaud.

What else can you do in the face of such outrageous talent? Madrid’s supporters had done the same for Juve’s own Alessandro Del Piero a decade earlier after his brace sank their team at the Bernabeu. It is no small feat to make such an impression in the home stadiums of teams as well-acquainted with success as these two.

Massimiliano Allegri is fond of reminding us that players, not managers, win football games. The Juventus manager had things so right in the previous round of this competition, his second-half substitutions helping to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win away to Tottenham at Wembley. And yet, rather than accept any praise, he deflected.

“I just do a bit of damage,” he quipped. “And then every now and then I try to fix it.”

No amount of repair work could extend his team’s run in Europe this season. Ronaldo had already opened the scoring in Turin before he extended Madrid’s advantage with the outrageous overhead strike. Eight minutes later, Marcelo made it 3-0 to the visitors. Paulo Dybala was sent off for Juventus in between.

The easy conclusion to draw would be that the Italian champions remain the same team that lost to Madrid by the same three-goal margin (albeit 4-1, instead of 3-0) at last year’s final in Cardiff. Easy, but perhaps not very just.

Juventus wasn’t presumptuous here as it had been 10 months earlier, believing they had nothing to envy of these opponents. “We felt like we were on a par with them,” Gianluigi Buffon said earlier this week. “That was the first and biggest mistake that we made.”

There was a greater urgency to Juventus’ play this time around, pressing higher and longer, seeking direct paths to goal when possession was won. Juventus took only one fewer shot in the first 45 minutes of this game than it had in the entire 90 the last time around.

More tangibly, Allegri corrected a mistake he had made in the final when he trusted in the experience of Andrea Barzagli on the right of his defence. The 36-year-old had been run ragged by Marcelo. This time, Juventus lined up with Mattia De Sciglio at full-back, and Douglas Costa ahead of him. For a time, their greater pace and willingness to get forward restricted Marcelo’s attack.

And yet, none of it mattered as Juventus still had no answers for the one player it most needed to subdue. Ronaldo’s opening strike arrived in just the third minute, finding space on the edge of the six-yard box to convert Isco’s cross.

Should the marking have been tighter on a player of such obvious talent? How badly did Juventus miss Mehdi Benatia on an occasion such as this? The Moroccan has been their most consistent defender this season, yet was absent through suspension.

In the end, though, it feels futile to even consider the question. Ronaldo scored because Ronaldo scores. This is the 10th consecutive Champions League game in which he has found the net – yet another personal record to add to the collection. His 14 goals in this season’s tournament are six more than the next-most prolific player.

Almost single-handedly, he has ensured that Buffon will retire without a Champions League winner’s medal. The goalkeeper has kept his cards close to his chest in recent weeks, but previously said he would quit at the end of this season unless Juventus won the big-eared trophy and gave him a chance to compete in the European Super Cup and Club World Cup for the first time.

No other person has done more to deny him that opportunity. Eight of Ronaldo’s last nine shots on target against the Juventus ‘keeper have ended up in the back of the net. And when the finishes are as good as the ones we saw in Turin on Tuesday, you can hardly hold Buffon at fault.

Great players win football matches, just as Allegri says. And one, in particular, does it more often in the Champions League than anyone else.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)