Amari Cooper has come as advertised. He’s polished, he’s smooth, and he’s catching a ton of balls. He had an outstanding catch at San Diego, tracking and adjusting to a long bomb, then leaping to high-point it above a defender. (His 52-yard catch-and-run touchdown in that game wasn’t bad either).
And while we are just six games into his career, we can now see that he’s on pace to finish with one of the all-time best rookie seasons for a receiver.
Cooper right now is on pace to finish the season with 1,384 yards. That would be the 2nd-best all-time, behind only Bill Groman of the expansion Oilers in the first-year of the AFL. Which begs the question: Who was Bill Groman?
In the past 50 years, only three other wide receivers have made it past 1,200 yards in their first year – Anquan Boldin, Randy Moss and Odell Beckham Jr.
ROOKIES WITH 1,000 RECEIVING YARDS | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
1960 | Bill Groman, Hou. | 72 | 1,473 | 20.5 | 12 |
2015 | Amari Cooper, Oak. (proj.) | 88 | 1,384 | 15.7 | 8 |
2003 | Anquan Boldin, Ariz. | 101 | 1,377 | 13.6 | 8 |
1998 | Randy Moss, Minn. | 69 | 1,313 | 19.0 | 17 |
2014 | Odell Beckham Jr., NYG | 91 | 1,305 | 14.3 | 12 |
1952 | Bill Howton, G.B. | 53 | 1,231 | 23.2 | 13 |
2004 | Michael Clayton, T.B. | 80 | 1,193 | 14.9 | 7 |
1996 | Terry Glenn, N.E. | 90 | 1,132 | 12.6 | 6 |
1986 | Bill Brooks, Ind. | 65 | 1,131 | 17.4 | 8 |
1954 | Harlon Hill, Chi. | 45 | 1,124 | 25.0 | 12 |
1961 | Mike Ditka, Chi. | 56 | 1,076 | 19.2 | 12 |
1986 | Ernest Givins, Hou. | 61 | 1,062 | 17.4 | 3 |
2011 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 65 | 1,057 | 16.3 | 7 |
2014 | Mike Evans, T.B. | 68 | 1,051 | 15.5 | 12 |
2013 | Keenan Allen, S.D. | 71 | 1,046 | 14.7 | 8 |
1995 | Joey Galloway, Sea. | 67 | 1,039 | 15.5 | 7 |
2006 | Marques Colston, N.O. | 70 | 1,038 | 14.8 | 8 |
1981 | Cris Collinsworth, Cin. | 67 | 1,009 | 15.1 | 8 |
2014 | Kelvin Benjamin, Car. | 73 | 1,008 | 13.8 | 9 |
1965 | Bob Hayes, Dall. | 46 | 1,003 | 21.8 | 12 |
1978 | John Jefferson, S.D. | 56 | 1,001 | 17.9 | 13 |
—Ian Allan