So why was Amari Cooper traded twice in his prime?

[steven50]

7 hours 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.  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.  

In one of his interviews he said, "its just football" and I kinda cringed. Thats not what you normally hear from a #1 WR but if he keeps doing great things who cares.

[LABILLBACKER]

6 hours ago, Augie said:

 

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. 

Josh will be the best qb Amari has ever had.  So make the most of this....

[DapperCam]

5 hours 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. 

 

In Cleveland I've also read rumors that Cooper was miffed that Cleveland wouldn't give him an extension this past offseason. So more contract related stuff.

[Mister Defense]

Just now, VW82 said:

Oakland traded him because his production fell off a cliff and he was struggling with drops. Dallas traded him because he was expensive and they needed cap relief. 

 

Amari is a good but not great receiver. He isn't a star, which means he's the kind of player that teams want and teams are willing to get rid of.

 

Well, Cooper is a 5 time Pro Bowler, including just last season.

 

I think one can make the case that makes him a great player, a star even. What current receiver has played in 5 or more Pro Bowls?   Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Evans, Hopkins-- any others? Likely missing a few, but seems a 5 time Pro Bowler means he is better than good, VW, don't you think? 

 

He will also almost assuredly end his career in the top 20 all time in yards.

 

I think you have the same kind of unique and unrealistic standards as the OP when it comes to Cooper. And what it means to be a "star" in the NFL. 

 

For me, 5 time Pro Bowl players are that.

 

 

[VW82]

22 minutes ago, Mister Defense said:

 

Well, Cooper is a 5 time Pro Bowler, including just last season.

 

I think one can make the case that makes him a great player, a star even. What current receiver has played in 5 or more Pro Bowls?   Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Evans, Hopkins-- any others? Likely missing a few, but seems a 5 time Pro Bowler means he is better than good, VW, don't you think? 

 

He will also almost assuredly end his career in the top 20 all time in yards.

 

I think you have the same kind of unique and unrealistic standards as the OP when it comes to Cooper. And what it means to be a "star" in the NFL. 

 

For me, 5 time Pro Bowl players are that.

 

 

I agree that normally five pro bowls would indicate that a player is a star. His draft position is also evidence of that. 

 

But I never felt like he was top 5 at his position, maybe in terms of production but not impact. 

 

You might accuse me of splitting hairs here, but I always felt like he topped out at really good instead of great, and again - to OP's point - he got traded twice in his prime. Given Amari hasn't had any major injuries and is the furthest thing from a malcontent, this is an inconvenient fact for the "Amari was GREAT" camp. 

 

In any event, he's not as good as he was anymore, and we don't need him to be that. We just need a professional that's competent who can beat one on one coverage on the outside and knows how to create space for teammates. He can still do those things and so he's still valuable to us.

Edited October 24 by VW82

[Mister Defense]

2 minutes ago, VW82 said:

 

I agree that normally five pro bowls would indicate that a player is a star. His draft position is also evidence of that. 

 

But I never felt like he was top 5 at his position, maybe in terms of production but not impact. 

 

You might accuse me of splitting hairs here, but I always felt like he topped out at really good instead of great, and again - to OP's point - he got traded twice in his prime. Given Amari hasn't had any major injuries and is the furthest thing from a malcontent, this is an inconvenient fact for the "Amari was GREAT" camp. 

 

In any event, he's not as good as he was anymore, and we don't need him to be that. We just need a professional that's competent who can beat one on one coverage on the outside and knows how to create space for teammates. He can still do those things and so he's still valuable to us.

 

Okay, but I think even at 30 he will be a star on this talented team, with by far the best quarterback he has ever played with in his life. We are all about to find out if this is true...

 

I really think the OP's detail about being traded twice is irrelevant, silly actually.  And means nothing.

 

James Lofton and Randy Moss were also both traded twice in their prime.  I think you'll agree, by anyone's standards, they were super stars in this league, Hall of Famers.

 

Let's hope that Cooper can provide the Bills with an integral piece of the puzzle, just like Lofton did when he arrived here--at 33. I think he can. I think he will. And that this will be Cooper's last stop, a home for him where he fits in well.

 

And so  the Bills will sign him to a 2-3 year extension by the end of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VW82]

9 minutes ago, Mister Defense said:

 

Okay, but I think even at 30 he will be a star on this talented team, with by far the best quarterback he has ever played with in his life. We are all about to find out if this is true...

 

I really think the OP's detail about being traded twice is irrelevant, silly actually.  And means nothing.

 

James Lofton and Randy Moss were also both traded twice in their prime.  I think you'll agree, by anyone's standards, they were super stars in this league, Hall of Famers.

 

Let's hope that Cooper can provide the Bills with an integral piece of the puzzle, just like Lofton did when he arrived here--at 33. I think he can. I think he will. And that this will be Cooper's last stop, a home for him where he fits in well.

 

And so  the Bills will sign him to a 2-3 year extension by the end of the season.

 

 

Yes, Lofton and Moss were superstars, but Lofton wasn't traded in his prime and Moss was a malcontent. Not the same situations. 

 

I'd say your expectations are a little high. If Amari can make another pro bowl here as Lofton did, that would be amazing. I'm not expecting that. 

 

Kincaid is the "star" of this receiving group, but we lacked balance with Keon's inexperience and whatever we were getting from Mack/MVS/Samuel. Amari provides balance. I think what we're going to see is exactly what was advertized in camp: everyone eats. Kincaid, Shakir, Cook, and Keon's receiving production will improve as a result because the defense now has to guard all areas of the field. 

[Turk71]

  2 players in NFL history have more 200+ yd receiving games than Cooper...his last one was ~ week 15 last season, 265 yds vs Hou with Flacco tossing him the ball.   Even this season with Cle his avg seperation of 2.7 yards is his highest since 2018.  His passes from Watson were 50% uncatchable balls so he didn't put up numbers.

  He was the #4 pick in the 2015 draft for a reason. Prototypical #1 size and 4.41 speed, master route runner, tremendous instincts getting open on extended plays.  He's 30 and his rate of decline has been greatly exaggerated by some on here. He is a special player imo and I'm so psyched the Bills got him. He will open up things for other players too.  I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season. I hope it's one for the ages. Go Bills!

 

  

[BillyBilliams]

I would say the same reason Brandin Cooks was always traded.  The dude is good, but never in the future plans of the team, or they're floundering and needed draft capital to rebuild the roster.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

6 hours ago, Punch said:

Not to discount any points in the OP, but the Raiders, Cowboys and Browns are all poorly run franchises awash in disarray. Its worth pointing out they haven't made very many smart moves over the past decade.

Jerry Jones is an ass, but the Cowboys have been relatively competitive my entire life. I’d much rather be the Cowboys than the Raiders. 

[Rochesterfan]

13 hours 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.

 

 

 

 

Another way to look at this is not why was Cooper traded twice, but is it a fairly common thing for WRs.

 

Why was Diggs traded twice in his Prime?

Why was Devante Adams traded twice in his Prime?

Why was Hopkins traded twice?

Why was Brandon Cook traded 3 times so far and people continue to look at him as a potential trade target still?

 

How about why have Hill, Hardman, AJ Brown, DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Jerry Jeudy, etc. all been traded in their prime at least once?
 

I think it is a WR and fit thing - they seem to get paid big time money and then get moved to free up space.  It rarely has anything to do with passion and more to do with player/return on investment and current fit.  I think receiver in general is a position that when teams are struggling- you can find ways to move on and try to find replacements elsewhere.  There are always 20-30 replacement level players to find every year in the draft.

 

Additionally you see several CBs traded throughout various years - not as many as WRs, but as both are sort of 1:1 positions outside the main formation they are easier positions to incorporate newly into a team during the season.

 

Other positions,: QB, OL, DL, LB - they are so dependent upon the others around them working as a unit that you see few starter levels traded in general during the year.

 

Just my opinion, but it seems many starter level WRs are available for trade every year and sometimes teams make the trades and other times they don’t.  WRs have always been a bit of a high end maintenance position and sometimes they wear out their welcome, but I am not sure that is always the case when guys are traded.

 

 

[Alphadawg7]

14 hours 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.

 

 

Let me preface this first with I was all for trading for him, he’s a good addition to the team in terms of what we need out of him.  But here is my honest opinion as to why and I have consistently said this about him for years.  
 

Cooper is kind of a more talented Gabe Davis in a lot of ways.  He has a few big games a season to make his season totals look good but his other weeks he is meh to MIA.  He’s wildly inconsistent on a week to week basis, and he drops a lot more balls than people think.  
 

It’s been that way his whole career.  Go look at each seasons game logs for his stats each week.  You will find majority of his games are not that impressive for a guy who made as much as he did.  But he will have 2-3 real big games that total like 30%+ of his season totals and make his season look good when it’s over.  
 

The good thing about his stop here is that we don’t need him to have a big game every week the way we can spread the ball around.  His presence will help open up more what they can do in other areas of the field. 

[skibum]

He has been a star player on some bad teams, and often those guys get traded. He couldn't stay in Dallas because they couldn't pay him what he was worth. All pretty legit reasons. 

[freddyjj]

14 hours ago, Mat68 said:

In Oak he wanted a big contract and Al didnt want to pay him because he wasn't a “leader” type

Al Davis died in 2011.  Think you mean Mark, his son.

[freddyjj]

7 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

James Lofton and Randy Moss were also both traded twice in their prime

Lofton was released by Raiders after 1988 season and signed as a FA with BUF in 1989.  So only traded once by Packers.

[Punch]

6 hours ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Jerry Jones is an ass, but the Cowboys have been relatively competitive my entire life. I’d much rather be the Cowboys than the Raiders. 

I understand what you're saying across a broader timeline, but the relevant time period in this case isn't over the course of your entire life though, only the past 5-10 years. The Cowboys haven't been competently run during that time and this year are getting blown out of games by halftime week after week.

[Freddie's Dead]

17 hours 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.  

 

 

I'm not for resigning Cooper, he's too good to let go.

[Matt_In_NH]

12 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

I'm not for resigning Cooper, he's too good to let go.

So you don't want to sign him but you don't want to let him go?

[Mister Defense]

9 hours ago, VW82 said:

 

Yes, Lofton and Moss were superstars, but Lofton wasn't traded in his prime and Moss was a malcontent. Not the same situations. 

 

I'd say your expectations are a little high. If Amari can make another pro bowl here as Lofton did, that would be amazing. I'm not expecting that. 

 

Kincaid is the "star" of this receiving group, but we lacked balance with Keon's inexperience and whatever we were getting from Mack/MVS/Samuel. Amari provides balance. I think what we're going to see is exactly what was advertized in camp: everyone eats. Kincaid, Shakir, Cook, and Keon's receiving production will improve as a result because the defense now has to guard all areas of the field. 

 

Good point and analysis in your last paragraph.  I think most Bills' fans watching the game on Sunday would agree.  We saw the passing game open up, with great consistency and big plays throughout the last three quarters, the type of dangerous passing game we have not seen much of this season.  And players like Kincaid and Coleman making big down the field plays that will likely change the nature of this offense going forward.  To me, having a 5 time Pro Bowler like Cooper there opened these things up for the offense, made them possible.  And this happened a few days after Cooper got to Buffalo, in the middle of the season.

 

And as teams realize that Cooper is still the player he has always been, and still the player he was just last year when he earned his 5th Pro Bowl, they will need to double team him more and more, opening things up for the others more as the season progresses.  The biggest weakness on offense so far this season, receivers not getting open consistently, will become one of the Bills' most important strengths.  Look out if this happens.. And Cooper will likely be the catalyst.

 

Imagine the possibilities going forward, once Cooper actually learns the offense, and as the Bills understand more and more just how consistent--and explosive--these weapons can be.

 

In addition, I think Coleman especially will learn a great deal from Cooper, especially the skills needed to get open consistently.

 

But I really disagree with your first sentence!  The OP said "teams couldn't wait to get rid of him", one of the most loaded BS things I have heard said about a BILLS' player on this board, as it is pure nonsense, with zero support for the irrational hate comment.  Surprised that you somehow lend credence to that, in part, by saying that Lofton was not a star player anymore when traded, as the Bills and 3 AFC Championships after he arrived would disagree.  And then somehow discounting  Moss in this 'Cooper has been traded too many times, so teams couldn't wait to get rid of him' nonsense, by stating that Moss was a 'malcontent'.  

 

Seems silly to accept and support such a loaded, biased unsupported point in the OP using those two examples, VW.

 

And while I agree that Cooper may not reach the Pro Bowl again--too many weapons on this offense--I think his presence on this team will mean other Bills' players will do so now in the coming years.  With Cooper leading the way, quietly, unassuming, but with great dedication and passion to the sport and the Bills.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24 by Mister Defense

[Mister Defense]

2 hours ago, freddyjj said:

Lofton was released by Raiders after 1988 season and signed as a FA with BUF in 1989.  So only traded once by Packers.

 

Thanks, but same idea--the team getting rid of the guy. I  remember Lofton always on the sidelines there, just standing there, almost never used.  Big mistake, but not surprising--the raiders.

 

I am sure that this fact did not escape the raider fans when the washed up, sideline statue Lofton burned them for 113 yards and two TDs in the Bills' first AFC championship game at the Ralph.