What now for Amari Cooper? He’s headed for free agency, but is any team going to have much of an interest in spending on him?
Cooper is name. He’s a former No. 4 overall pick, and he’s had 200-yard games with three different franchises – Oakland, Dallas, Cleveland. But he’ll be 31 in June, and he didn’t make much of an impact with Buffalo.
With the Bills, they didn’t even make much of an impact to use him. They had him for 11 games, and he caught only 26 passes and 2 TDs in those games, averaging only 31 yards per week.
With the Bills, Cooper was on the field for more than half of their plays only 3 times. They had three other wide receivers who saw a lot more playing time. And Cooper didn’t tend to be effective with his limited opportunities. He went for 95 yards in his most productive game (the shootout loss at Los Angeles) but he caught only 6 of 14 targets in that game.
Cooper in the postseason caught only 6 passes for 41 yards in their three games, looking pretty ordinary.
The was no real “go-to” receiver in Buffalo’s offense. Khalil Shakir was the preferred option on short routes, but there was no money receiver who could be counted on to consistently make impact plays.
Cooper was with the Bills for 11 games, and their five main receivers in those 11 games all caught 2-3 touchdowns. Shakir in those games at least caught 62 passes (5.6 per week), but nobody else averaged even 2.5 catches per game.
| BILLS RECEIVERS IN COOPER'S 11 GAMES | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Tgt | No | Yards | Avg | TD | Snap% |
| Shakir | 11 | 83 | 62 | 638 | 10.3 | 2 | 65% |
| Coleman | 9 | 43 | 19 | 356 | 18.7 | 2 | 72% |
| Cooper | 11 | 40 | 26 | 338 | 13.0 | 2 | 44% |
| Hollins | 11 | 26 | 17 | 260 | 15.3 | 3 | 61% |
| Samuel | 8 | 20 | 14 | 155 | 11.1 | 3 | 36% |
I don’t envision Cooper generating much of a market. I don’t think any team will be viewing him as a No. 1 option. A lot of teams, I expect, might see him as more of a third option.
—Ian Allan