Amari Anyone?

[JerseyBills]

59 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

He was the only real option due to his contract and availability. The Bills were stuck - and that was their own doing - but by mid-season he was the only viable option to try to improve the WR corps. But, yes, due to injury and/or declining skills it wound up being a bad trade. 

Hopkins as well, who cost less and didn't do much better but slightly better

[BuffaloBill]

“Age or Aging” in NFL years is a real thing.  Especially at speed / twitch positions, 30 seems to be a very magic number.  Amari turned out to be a bust of a trade.

[Steptide]

Beane gave up a 3rd for him, if they thought he was good, they'd absolutely re sign him. He probably IS done 

[BarleyNY]

46 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

Hopkins as well, who cost less and didn't do much better but slightly better

 

KC paid Hopkins $3.5M for the part of year they had him. Amari only got $800k from the Bills. We could not have afforded Hopkins. 

Edited Tuesday at 08:37 PM by BarleyNY

[starrymessenger]

On 3/15/2025 at 6:08 PM, Steptide said:

I'm late to this post, but I really question his wrist injury and what the deal with all that was. He had some good games, but part of me wonders if he was just trying to get through this season to get a better contract. Who knows. Either way, for the production we got from him, we can probably draft a receiver and get just as good or better production. I'd take him back at a really fair price, but would rather draft a guy in round 1 or 2

Move up for Golden in the first. If not a WR, move up for Grant.

[Mr. WEO]

2 hours ago, Logic said:

I previously read a different in article (which may also have been from Berry) in which it was definitively stated that it WAS a Bills staff member that said they think Cooper might be cooked.

 

 

 

IT WAS ME!!!

 

jeez...

[Einstein's Dog]

1 hour ago, BarleyNY said:

He was the only real option due to his contract and availability. The Bills were stuck - and that was their own doing - but by mid-season he was the only viable option to try to improve the WR corps. But, yes, due to injury and/or declining skills it wound up being a bad trade. 

I don't recall it that way - mid-season there were at least D Adams, D Johnson, DHop, and A Cooper.

 

Now with the FA market down to bare bones - A Cooper, S Diggs, D Johnson, and K Allen, I think for FA it is Amari or nothing.

 

Maybe they try the mid-season trade route again.  Because as much as people seem to dislike the trade, the FO did bring in what was normally a $20M WR for over half the season and the playoffs.  I'm not sure who would be available, only have heard of B Aiyuk so far.

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Keenan Allen got any juice left? Slim pickins here sheesh

[JerseyBills]

1 hour ago, BarleyNY said:

 

KC paid Hopkins $3.5M for the part of year they had him. Amari only got $800k from the Bills. We could not have afforded Hopkins. 

Meant draft pick wise

[BarleyNY]

1 hour ago, Einstein's Dog said:

I don't recall it that way - mid-season there were at least D Adams, D Johnson, DHop, and A Cooper.

 

Now with the FA market down to bare bones - A Cooper, S Diggs, D Johnson, and K Allen, I think for FA it is Amari or nothing.

 

Maybe they try the mid-season trade route again.  Because as much as people seem to dislike the trade, the FO did bring in what was normally a $20M WR for over half the season and the playoffs.  I'm not sure who would be available, only have heard of B Aiyuk so far.

 

Spotrac has what was paid to each player by each team. For example, Adams was paid $11.6M by the Jets after the trade. DHop got $3.5M from KC. Amari was on a vet min because of the contract restructuring so he was a possibility for the Bills. He only counted $800k against the Bills cap. Dionte Johnson wasn’t the caliber of WR that Cooper was, but he was a possibility too. He only made about the same amount from the two teams he got traded to. 

[Alphadawg7]

As I have said many times before...there is also just a gear missing from Amari, has been his whole career.  He doesn't have that hunger, fire, and focus every game he is out there.  Number of games in his career under 40 yards is astonishing for a WR of his caliber.  

 

Now add in age to that equation...and its a double whammy at this stage of his career.  To be on top of your game later in your career it requires a mental and physical commitment to the game, and I have just never felt Amari loved the game on that level.  

 

He strikes me as a guy more complacent than a guy fighting to be his best day in and day out both physically and mentally.  He can get going still, but he strikes me as someone who picks his spots to do so rather than go all out whistle to whistle.  

[3rdand12]

Alpha reminded me  about Watching Cooper more closely some weeks.

 He really did not appear focused at all. Had forgotten about my dislike of him this past year. Wrist or no wrist. Anyone else watch him more closely ?

 

 No to Amari

 Draft

 Diggs 🙃 ?

[Brand J]

3 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

“Age or Aging” in NFL years is a real thing.  Especially at speed / twitch positions, 30 seems to be a very magic number.  Amari turned out to be a bust of a trade.

It’s the twitchiness that leaves athletes, the “quicks,” not so much straight line speed. Speed and strength carry well into the 30s if injuries haven’t broken the body down. 

[Mister Defense]

If the Bills think Cooper's injury and late arrival were the reasons he did not have a lot of productivity last year, then I want him back.

 

He kicked kiester for a Cleveland team just two seasons ago, with 1250 yards.

 

But if they think Cooper has hit a wall, then obviously, NO.

 

I would hate to see Cooper go to the Patriots or Dolphins or Chiefs, or another AFC team, and have a high level year, when the Bills need a player like Cooper was in 2023, a guy that can put them over the top if that is the case.

 

Glad there is little interest, so hoping he signs for a low number, under 10, but with good incentives.

 

It would ease many minds as far as the WR room is concerned, and may give the Bills more draft capital to parlay their 10 picks into the 3-4 best D-tackles/cornerbacks they can move up to get.

 

He likes it in Buffalo, and may want to end his career with a team he feels comfortable with, that he enjoys playing with, and that gives him the best hope of ending his career with a championship.

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:53 PM by Mister Defense

[Mister Defense]

4 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

“Age or Aging” in NFL years is a real thing.  Especially at speed / twitch positions, 30 seems to be a very magic number.  Amari turned out to be a bust of a trade.

 

Cooper's production very likely was hampered by his injury, which one doctor said was so serious he should not play again last year.  We won't know this until we see Cooper play again next year, wherever that may be, or if at all.

 

I don't think he was a bust, and that even in his limited roll he helped the Bills win a few games that they otherwise may not have won.

 

1250 yards, with Watson and Flacco throwing to him in Cleveland in 2023.  Hard to imagine he fell off the cliff that quickly, but we'll see..

 

 

 

[Breakout Squad]

3 hours ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

Keenan Allen got any juice left? Slim pickins here sheesh

Keenan is probably waiting for an injury to a WR in training camp before he signs. 

[hikerprof2]

Initially I wanted Amari Cooper back, because he opened up the offense, even as a decoy. I wasn't impressed with his volume/numbers, but I thought we needed him back and with more familiarity with Allen and better health, he would be a weapon. But I think the signing of Plamer indicates we are looking younger and still predicating our offense on spreading the load. No one knows better than the Bills staff whether he is actually washed or not, but from the slow market on both he and Diggs, I think the tape is showing these guys are mere possession receivers now and should be paid well below 10 mil a year - I think they have less value than Hollins. What the Bills need is a young guy from the draft with speed and verticality, and then their WR room is set.

[BuffaloBill]

11 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

 

Cooper's production very likely was hampered by his injury, which one doctor said was so serious he should not play again last year.  We won't know this until we see Cooper play again next year, wherever that may be, or if at all.

 

I don't think he was a bust, and that even in his limited roll he helped the Bills win a few games that they otherwise may not have won.

 

1250 yards, with Watson and Flacco throwing to him in Cleveland in 2023.  Hard to imagine he fell off the cliff that quickly, but we'll see..

 

 

 

 

A third round pick for the production was a bust for the Bills. I get it that Cooper was injured but you can’t deny that the Bills came out on the wrong end of that deal overall. It’s also telling that nobody in the league is busting down the door to sign him. 

 

I understand that by all accounts Amari is a stand up and classy person. He just is not the talent that he once was on the football field. In the NFL time in combination with wear and tear is cruel.

[BuffaloBillyG]

15 hours ago, Einstein's Dog said:

I don't recall it that way - mid-season there were at least D Adams, D Johnson, DHop, and A Cooper.

 

Now with the FA market down to bare bones - A Cooper, S Diggs, D Johnson, and K Allen, I think for FA it is Amari or nothing.

 

Maybe they try the mid-season trade route again.  Because as much as people seem to dislike the trade, the FO did bring in what was normally a $20M WR for over half the season and the playoffs.  I'm not sure who would be available, only have heard of B Aiyuk so far.

I really hope not.

 

I've always been a big "Cmon Beane so something" at the trade deadline kinda guy. But his track record at trade deadline moves has been poor. Kelvin Benjamin, Hines, Cooper. Maybe his best success at the deadline was Rasul, but even then we got a partial season where he was good and then last year where he was a flat out liability at times. 

 

And before anyone moves the goalposts, yeah the Diggs trade was great...but not a deadline moves as to what I'm referring to.

 

Skip the deadline. Keep the picks.

[TheyCallMeAndy]

31 minutes ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

I really hope not.

 

I've always been a big "Cmon Beane so something" at the trade deadline kinda guy. But his track record at trade deadline moves has been poor. Kelvin Benjamin, Hines, Cooper. Maybe his best success at the deadline was Rasul, but even then we got a partial season where he was good and then last year where he was a flat out liability at times. 

 

And before anyone moves the goalposts, yeah the Diggs trade was great...but not a deadline moves as to what I'm referring to.

 

Skip the deadline. Keep the picks.

Agreed. Do better in March so we aren't freaking out in October!