So why was Amari Cooper traded twice in his prime?

[Brand J]

I was talking to a Cowpokes fan about why Amari was moved and he said there was an entire ordeal about Cooper’s decision not to get vaccinated, that Jerry Jones didn’t take that well and there was sort of a falling out. He said it had much more to do with that than paying Cooper market value. 

[Kaenon]

55 minutes ago, stuvian said:

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

Haha, this.

Aside from the Panthers - those are the (3) worst run franchises in football.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

WRs get traded. Many good ones have played on 3+ teams while still considered a WR1.

[Mat68]

In Oak he wanted a big contract and Al didnt want to pay him because he wasn't a “leader” type.  Trade to Dallas and signed a massive wr deal.  In Dallas he was out of guarantee money and his cap hit was starting to get too big to manage.  Was initially cut and then traded to Cleveland where they reworked the deal.  Never held out or made a big ordeal of it. Probably why he was traded to favorable spots.  Cooper and Watson were big additions to a solid defense and run game at the time.    

[Augie]

47 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

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

 

A quiet and humble NFL WR. 

 

The next thing you know you’ll see a unicorn and Sasquatch having lattes at Starbucks. 

 

I know, a few bad apples….. 

[Blackbeard]

WInnie Cooper is my pick.

[Doc Brown]

I'm hoping the mid-season trade for him has the same effect on the Bills offense like he had on the Cowboys in 2018.  They were 3-4 without him and finished 10-6 making it to the Divisional game.

[mannc]

Who cares?  He’s a Buffalo Bill now.

[toto8]

2017 with Derek Carr that year was one of Carr's crappiest one with a QB rating of 86.4 had 13 INT and 62 completed %

2018 with 2 different QBS he put up 1,000 yds

2021 was battling a hamstring injury but was short 200 from 1,000

 

So he was bad because of the circumstances not because of him.

[Sweats]

1 hour ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

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

 

 

 

 

........faster than Coleman?

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

cowboys coming off 3 12 win seasons in a row.  

 

not his forte, to put it mildly...

Very mildly, I would say he is not good at it or maybe he has never tried lol, 

[Logic]

Raiders - Cooper (by his own admission) dealt with injuries, drops, and inconsistency, so even though he posted 2,900 yards in his first three seasons, the Raiders didn't want to commit to him long term. They traded him to Dallas instead.

Dallas - Jerry Jones didn't want to (or wasn't able to) give Cooper a long term extension. This is the same team, mind you, that handed Ezekiel Elliott an awful contract and recently had long and idiotic contract staredowns with CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott. They traded him to Cleveland.

Cleveland - Rumors are that Watson and Cooper didn't get along and that Cooper sort of quit on the team this year. Either way, the Browns are having a down year and likely were happy to get a draft pick back in return for a player who definitely wasn't going to be there in 2025.

So all in all, to answer your question: Early inconsistency and injury troubles, then bad front offices. That really seems to be it.

Cooper isn't a superstar WR. He's a mid to low end WR1 who will give you 1,000-1,200 yards most seasons. He's a smart and savvy veteran who knows how to get open, commands attention from the defense, and will add some juice to the Bills' receiver room. They'll either re-sign him to a reasonable deal next year or let him walk and re-coup the 3rd as a com pick, but either way, he makes the Bills' WR room materially better in 2024, and his past as an NFL player doesn't change any of that, no matter what theory you ascribe his various moves to. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Logic

[Cray51]

Cooper is a Decent #1 who gets dealt often because a) team dont tend to invest in those guys and b)If he is your best WR option without a star QB you wont be Super Bowl successful.  Oakland had no QB (Carr is incredibly overrated) and Cooper was dealt to Dallas.  Then, Dallas used Cooper well, however they had a young Ceedee Lamb ready to bust out, and chose the rookie contract over the WR1 money Cooper would require.  Then, back to situation b, the Browns are bad with no QB, and they dealt Cooper to a potential contender.

 

Cooper is a great player - and a really solid piece to add here.  I'm excited to see what he can do, and secondly do the Bills try to work out a deal to bring him back if they are successful with him?

[dorquemada]

Every team has to make hard salary cap decisions, sometimes you're the odd man out even if you're otherwise very good, which I think is the case with Cooper.  He doesn't have a larger than life personality that a team might base itself around, and after all this is an entertainment business.  I think Cooper is a perfect fit here and will quickly become a major target for Allen. Another big bodied good route runner with a solid catch radius.

[Augie]

9 minutes ago, Logic said:

Raiders - Cooper (by his own admission) dealt with injuries, drops, and inconsistency, so even though he posted 2,900 yards in his first three seasons, the Raiders didn't want to commit to him long term. They traded him to Dallas instead.

Dallas - Jerry Jones didn't want to (or wasn't able to) give Cooper a long term extension. This is the same team, mind you, that handed Ezekiel Elliott an awful contract and recently had long and idiotic contract staredowns with CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott. They traded him to Cleveland.

Cleveland - Rumors are that Watson and Cooper didn't get along and that Cooper sort of quit on the team this year. Either way, the Browns are having a down year and likely were happy to get a draft pick back in return for a player who definitely wasn't going to be there in 2025.

So all in all, to answer your question: Early inconsistency and injury troubles, then bad front offices. That really seems to be it.

Cooper isn't a superstar WR. He's a mid to low end WR1 who will give you 1,000-1,200 yards most seasons. He's a smart and savvy veteran who knows how to get open, commands attention from the defense, and will add some juice to the Bills' receiver room. They'll either re-sign him to a reasonable deal next year or let him walk and re-coup the 3rd as a com pick, but either way, he makes the Bills' WR room materially better in 2024, and his past as an NFL player doesn't change any of that, no matter what theory you ascribe his various moves to. 

 

It is never cool to quit on your team, but you get bonus points if you are not buddies with Watson, imo. 

[GASabresIUFan]

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 need to drill down further.  In Dallas CeeDee Lamb arrived on the scene in 2020.  Cooper became the No.2 receiver in 2021 as Lamb emerged as a star.  Cooper went to Cleveland after that and had two great years, with year 2 in Cleveland being superior to year 1 (17.4 yds per catch vs 14.9).  He was sent to Buffalo because Cleveland needs to rebuild again.  

 

In Oak the problem was Derek Carr and the offense they ran in 2017 forward.  They moved to a more TE/RB type offense to help Carr.  In 2018 Oak's leading receivers were their RB and TE.  Carr's poor accuracy lead to lousy TGT/Catch ratios for all the receivers (RB, TE and WR).  With his rookie contract coming to an end and him being a poor fit for their offense, they shipped him to Dallas.  Dallas traded him to Cleveland as he was being paid to be a No. 1 receiver, but was clearly No. 2 behind Lamb.  Oak receiver a 1st for Cooper. Dallas only received a 5th for Cooper as Cleveland took on his nearly 19 mill in cap.  

 

 

[DrBob806]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

 

 

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. 

He was outstanding in Cleveland, made a lot of big plays, especially last season. Once the Browns pursued Aiyuk, it pissed him off, and Watson simply stinks. 

[US Egg]

Any stones left to turn on this guy?

[Saxum]

2 hours ago, stuvian said:

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

 

1 hour ago, Kaenon said:

Haha, this.

Aside from the Panthers - those are the (3) worst run franchises in football.

 

It worries me that Terry Pegula is taking advice from Jerry Jones.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

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. 

So you are saying Cooper isn't the best WR in football. Ok that is fair. 

He has to be at least top 15. Which makes us a much better team. Diggs was top 3 but is no longer. And I hated moving on from Diggs. 

The rest of the guys would struggle to be listed in the top 50 or maybe top 100.