In an effort to boost their depth at the wide receiver position, the Atlanta Falcons have traded for Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Van Jefferson, according to Ian Rapoport.

Jefferson fell out of the receiver rotation last week with the return of Cooper Kupp, who made his season debut after missing the first four games of the season with a hamstring injury.

Which team wins the trade deal for Van Jefferson — the Falcons, or the Rams? Let's get to the grades to find out.

Atlanta Falcons: A new deep threat

The Falcons trading for Van Jefferson comes as a bit of a surprise, especially since the scheme is so run-heavy. Atlanta isn't dealing with any major injuries (so far as we know) to anyone in their receiving corps, but perhaps free-agent addition Mack Hollins (9 receptions, 143 yards) hasn't lived up to Atlanta's expectations thus far. Hollins caught 57 passes for the Raiders last season, but has graded out as PFF's 77th out of 110 receivers so far this season.

Jefferson has functioned primarily as a perimeter deep threat for most of his career in Los Angeles, averaging over 15.4 yards per reception over the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Rams. He was a crucial part of the Rams' Super Bowl roster in 2021, catching 50 passes and 6 touchdowns that season.

This is a buy-low acquisition for the Falcons, as the pick-swap is about as cheap as they come. Jefferson has shown some juice as a perimeter threat, which is something NFL teams are constantly spending capital on due to it's overall importance. Clearing out defenders and drawing safeties should open things up for Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Bijan Robinson…or it could continue to create more targets for Jonnu Smith.

That's the thing about Atlanta's offense: it works in mysterious ways under Arthur Smith, with his stars playing second-fiddle to other options far too often. Jefferson hasn't been a productive player this season, but he has more talent than any other receiver not named Drake London on Atlanta's roster. For those two reasons, Jefferson could end up having a bigger impact than you'd expect, making this a nice low-risk, potentially high-reward trade by Atlanta's front office.

Grade: B+

Los Angeles Rams: Clear the decks

With the emergence of Puka Nacua as a bonafide star receiver, the Rams were always going to have an extremely focused target outlook when Cooper Kupp returned. That held true on Sunday, with Kupp (12) and Nacua (10) getting most of the looks with Tutu Atwell cleaning up the leftovers. Only one other attempt went to a Los Angeles wide receiver against the Eagles.

Simply put, there was just no role left for Van Jefferson in Los Angeles, especially with Atwell outperforming him. His value to another franchise, where he could operate as a WR2/3, was going to be more than it would be for the Rams as a WR4/5. Getting out in front of a potentially cancerous situation makes a lot of sense after Jefferson played just two snaps in Week 5.

Things like this happen in the NFL from time to time, and the Rams did well to get some draft compensation for a player who had fallen out of their receiver rotation. Another injury to Kupp could change the outlook of this deal, but this was the right thing to do for a roster that bit the bullet earlier in the season on trading an unhappy player in Cam Akers to the Minnesota Vikings as well. Chemistry is king, and the Rams have been cooking offensively with Matthew Stafford throwing to Nacua and now Kupp. There's no need to jeopardize that for Jefferson.

Grade: B