WATCH: Falcons accomplish two important objectives in Mohamed Sanu trade

Whenever a trade happens, our first reaction is to label a winner and a loser for the deal. Some trades, though, work out for both sides.

That's definitely the case with the Atlanta Falcons sending wide receiver Mohamed Sanu to the New England Patriots for a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

While the Patriots add depth to their receiving core, the Falcons acquire a draft pick, which will be key for Atlanta revamping its roster in the coming years. Furthermore, and maybe even more importantly, the Falcons created salary cap space for next season.

It usually takes a big name like Amari Cooper to pry away a high draft pick from a team at the trade deadline. Last year, all Golden Tate fetched for the Detroit Lions was a third-round pick, and he has similar career numbers and is about the same age as Sanu.

With that in mind, the Falcons should be thrilled with a second-round choice, even if it's going to be late in the round.

Last season, he recorded a career-best 838 receiving yards. He's still a valuable part of the Atlanta offense and has 33 catches for 313 yards with one touchdown this season.

But with the continued emergence of Calvin Ridley and the second straight breakout season of Austin Hooper, the Falcons could afford to lose the worst of its top-four pass catchers. There are fewer weapons in the offense without Sanu, but more targets going to Ridley, Hooper and Julio Jones isn't a bad thing at all.

The biggest key to this trade, though, and the reason why the Patriots probably felt inclined to give up a second-round pick is Sanu has another year left on his contract. New England gets him for 2020 while the Falcons just cleared $7.9 million in cap space for next year.

Zack Moore of Overthecap.com projected Sunday night that the Falcons are set to be $8.7 million over the salary cap heading into 2020, and that's before taking into account signing draft picks and free agents.

There's still more work to be done, but trading Sanu gets the Falcons to within $1 million of the cap ceiling.

Over the next week before the trade deadline hits, Atlanta general manager Thomas Dimitroff should not only look for more deals landing his organization draft picks but also at trades that could open more salary cap space for next season.