So why was Amari Cooper traded twice in his prime?

[PoundingDog]

This is a guy with prototypical size, decent speed, huge hands (same size as DHop, Diggs) for a WR. Very intelligent and a technician. Widely considered top receiver in his draft year (#5 overall).

 

I remember seeing articles and comments about him when he's traded. I think some of it might be true. He may not have an extreme passion for football; he just happens to be good at running routes and catching football. People at Buffalo have lots of complaints about Kelly, Bruce Smith etc. in their heyday. BUT, when they step in between the white lines, in Chuck Dickerson's words, "they love it too much", which carried to their off the field work habits and dedication.

 

If you look at Cooper's NFL career so far, his best years are the first two years with his new teams. Afterwards, his production dropped and teams couldn't wait to get rid of him.

 

The Bills are getting Cooper for the ride this season so everything seems to align for the team and him. Beyond the season though, I'd very cautious about giving him big money.

 

 

[stuvian]

because Jimmy Haslam, Mark Davis and Jerry Jones know everything about football

[ScotSHO]

To me his demeanor seems very laid back, almost nonchalant in interviews and on the sideline.  But in my experience I have worked with people like this that are very high performers.  I like it, but I suspect this doesn't play well in a traditional football environment, and he probably and unfairly gets lumped in with the guys that are not bought into the "process" or whatever they were selling in Cleveland & Oakland at the time.  

[Bills aPHILLYate]

Why he was traded probably has more variables...

But if you frame your question from the perspective of "Why did 2 teams trade for Amari Cooper in his prime?", it probably yields more of a consistent answer.

Even if you incorporate the Bills for the 3rd trade; it's because he is a #1WR,  has consistently been productive and improves the pass catching stable pretty much everywhere he goes

 

[BarleyNY]

Jerry Jones didn’t want to pay him $20M a season so he got shipped to the Browns for almost nothing. Then $20M became a deal for WRs of his caliber. 

 

He only got traded this season because the Browns knew he was gone as a FA in the offseason and their current season is shot. 

Edited 3 hours ago by BarleyNY

[somnus00]

Well he's been traded to/from, probably, the 3 most dysfunctional front offices in the NFL.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

Cap casualty in Dallas,  literally was traded from Oakland and Cleveland because he was a good player on a mess of a team.  
 

I think he’s gonna go off in Buffalo personally.  The guy was a good sport playing for some garbage teams.  His ‘down year’ this year in Cleveland is very hard to blame him for, he was on pace for 700 ish receiving yards on one of the worst passing offenses of all time 😆. That’s hardly a down year contextually 

Edited 3 hours ago by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Allen2D̶i̶g̶g̶s̶TBD]

Brandin Cooks was traded 4 times. It doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on the player. It also means that the team trading for him thinks he's smart enough to learn a new offense quickly.

[Augie]

3 minutes ago, stuvian said:

because Jimmy Haslam, Mark Davis and Jerry Jones know everything about football

 

That is one ugly list of owners! Yikes! 

 

He should love catching balls from Josh and having a decent owner for the first time ever. 

[JerseyBills]

Watch BBB on McAfee and Saban last week talking about Coop. 

 

He's just a quiet, humble dude but is extremely knowledgeable and loves the game, according to Beane who scouted him w Car and was blown away and Saban who coached him at Bama

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

I remember watching his 40, he was fast and had good agility skills. 

[hondo in seattle]

If the trend holds and we get two excellent years from him, I'll be happy.

 

Coop, Shakir and Keon isn't a bad starting trio.  But whether we resign Coop or not, I think Beane needs to draft another quality wideout.  

 

[Mr. WEO]

11 minutes ago, stuvian said:

because Jimmy Haslam, Mark Davis and Jerry Jones know everything about football

 

cowboys coming off 3 12 win seasons in a row.  

1 minute ago, hondo in seattle said:

If the trend holds and we get two excellent years from him, I'll be happy.

 

Coop, Shakir and Keon isn't a bad starting trio.  But whether we resign Coop or not, I think Beane needs to draft another quality wideout.  

 

 

not his forte, to put it mildly...

[Warriorspikes51]

I expect him to be a big difference maker for us and in the playoffs.  If that happens, give him a 2-3 year $$ deal. 

[Shaw66]

I hate to say this, but I think Cooper may be the prototypical Bills player - the kind of guy McDermott loves. He has talent and he does his job, and he doesn't let anything else get in the way. Put another way, his play isn't animated by burning passion; instead, it's animated by excellence at his position.

 

That means he's a guy who is very productive but isn't a big-play star. He isn't Justin Jefferson or Chris Jones. He's like Rousseau - really talented, good size, does his job.  It's why the Bills took Coleman instead of Worthy. 

 

If I'm right about that, then he's a perfect guy to drop into this receiver group: all-round excellent receiver, better than anyone else in the room, will make everyone around him better. Just the kind of guy McDermott loves. 

 

Cooper will make the Bills better, game in, game out, but he isn't necessarily going to make the big play that a guy like DHop does. 

 

I "hate to say" it because I think every really successful team needs at least one truly outstanding guy at a key position. Cooper isn't that guy, at least I don't think so. 

[DJB]

51 minutes ago, PoundingDog said:

This is a guy with prototypical size, decent speed, huge hands (same size as DHop, Diggs) for a WR. Very intelligent and a technician. Widely considered top receiver in his draft year (#5 overall).

 

I remember seeing articles and comments about him when he's traded. I think some of it might be true. He may not have an extreme passion for football; he just happens to be good at running routes and catching football. People at Buffalo have lots of complaints about Kelly, Bruce Smith etc. in their heyday. BUT, when they step in between the white lines, in Chuck Dickerson's words, "they love it too much", which carried to their off the field work habits and dedication.

 

If you look at Cooper's NFL career so far, his best years are the first two years with his new teams. Afterwards, his production dropped and teams couldn't wait to get rid of him.

 

The Bills are getting Cooper for the ride this season so everything seems to align for the team and him. Beyond the season though, I'd very cautious about giving him big money.

 

 

The Raiders, Cowboys and Browns should be enough of a reason to understand 😂

[ngbills]

His numbers dont scream "dominate" they are more steady and solid production. His best year is 1200 yards which is legit but in today's NFL you have tons of guys putting up those numbers. So I think its been a matter of his ceiling just being lower so if your spending big $$ it goes to someone else. 

[Big Turk]

1 hour ago, PoundingDog said:

This is a guy with prototypical size, decent speed, huge hands (same size as DHop, Diggs) for a WR. Very intelligent and a technician. Widely considered top receiver in his draft year (#5 overall).

 

I remember seeing articles and comments about him when he's traded. I think some of it might be true. He may not have an extreme passion for football; he just happens to be good at running routes and catching football. People at Buffalo have lots of complaints about Kelly, Bruce Smith etc. in their heyday. BUT, when they step in between the white lines, in Chuck Dickerson's words, "they love it too much", which carried to their off the field work habits and dedication.

 

If you look at Cooper's NFL career so far, his best years are the first two years with his new teams. Afterwards, his production dropped and teams couldn't wait to get rid of him.

 

The Bills are getting Cooper for the ride this season so everything seems to align for the team and him. Beyond the season though, I'd very cautious about giving him big money.

 

 

 

I think you are trying too hard.

 

Dallas didn't want to pay him top dollar, so they traded him to the Browns. Browns have a trash QB situation...funnily enough, Cooper exploded after Watson got hurt last year and Flacco started throwing him the ball all over the place. Browns know they are going nowhere this year so they wanted to recoup some assets.

[Blackbeard]

50 minutes ago, ScotSHO said:

To me his demeanor seems very laid back, almost nonchalant in interviews and on the sideline.  But in my experience I have worked with people like this that are very high performers

Accurate in my experience as well.

 

The quiet, to themselves types are usually very good at their craft.  Type A personalities a lotta the times.

 

Welcome aboard.

[MJS]

Who said they couldn't wait to get rid of him?