The extremely talented and always underrated Amari Cooper Thread

[Chwf3rd]

I legitimately do not know what you were watching if you thought he was giving the same effort.

He was trash since halfway through year 2, so acting like he had a great two years is incredibly disingenuous. If anything, you are sounding like the one who is only looking at the stats and I cannot take your opinion meaningfully at this point.

Couldn't say it better myself. Absolutely nobody anywhere mentions the game splits in Coopers 2nd season. They just look at the final numbers and assume he was good all year.

He was a 2nd year WR and 21/22 years old. He shouldn’t have been expected to put up great production year in and year out. His production and play that year was outstanding for a young 2nd year WRs.

Sure he always struggled with concentration drops but that never made him “trash” or “low effort.”

[Phaded]

The drops are not the only thing that is an indicator of his lack of effort. He consistently would not run his routes, give up on contact or give up on his routes. His work ethic for whatever reason became piss poor, the change of scenery clearly agrees with him.

[Chwf3rd]

Your lack of reading comprehension is astounding.

Also for what it is worth, this is not some new approach I have regarding Cooper. I posted literally a couple years ago that he was being grossly overvalued as a top 5 asset.

Whatever man, I’ll enjoy all my Amari Cooper shares and have fun sticking with your narrative that he’s suddenly totally changed as a player.

My initial response to your post wasn’t very contentious, I don’t know why you felt the need to make this personal.

[Bot101]

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/footb ... ri-cooper/

For anyone saying he had a great 2nd year. Take a nice close look before and after the week 10 bye. Do you notice something? Why did he all of a sudden fall off a cliff?

[AussieMate]

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/footb ... ri-cooper/

For anyone saying he had a great 2nd year. Take a nice close look before and after the week 10 bye. Do you notice something? Why did he all of a sudden fall off a cliff?

I thought he'd injured his ankle mid year which he played through? If I'm wrong let me know, but I thought alot if his second half of year drop offs in season 1 and 2 had alot to do with Cooper getting banged up (which could be a knock on his durability in itself if he can't get through a full season).

[Chwf3rd]

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/footb ... ri-cooper/

For anyone saying he had a great 2nd year. Take a nice close look before and after the week 10 bye. Do you notice something? Why did he all of a sudden fall off a cliff?

I thought he'd injured his ankle mid year which he played through? If I'm wrong let me know, but I thought alot if his second half of year drop offs in season 1 and 2 had alot to do with Cooper getting banged up (which could be a knock on his durability in itself if he can't get through a full season).

I know he had an ankle injury throughout 2017, not sure if he was hurt during 2016 as well.

The drops are not the only thing that is an indicator of his lack of effort. He consistently would not run his routes, give up on contact or give up on his routes. His work ethic for whatever reason became piss poor, the change of scenery clearly agrees with him.

Regarding his effort, here is an article where Carr talks about Amari’s effort during 2017. You’re welcome to take whatever you want away from it.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports. ... 03731/Amp/

[Bot101]

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/footb ... ri-cooper/

For anyone saying he had a great 2nd year. Take a nice close look before and after the week 10 bye. Do you notice something? Why did he all of a sudden fall off a cliff?

I thought he'd injured his ankle mid year which he played through? If I'm wrong let me know, but I thought alot if his second half of year drop offs in season 1 and 2 had alot to do with Cooper getting banged up (which could be a knock on his durability in itself if he can't get through a full season).

That was last year.

[FantasyFreak]

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/footb ... ri-cooper/

For anyone saying he had a great 2nd year. Take a nice close look before and after the week 10 bye. Do you notice something? Why did he all of a sudden fall off a cliff?

I thought he'd injured his ankle mid year which he played through? If I'm wrong let me know, but I thought alot if his second half of year drop offs in season 1 and 2 had alot to do with Cooper getting banged up (which could be a knock on his durability in itself if he can't get through a full season).

That was last year.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... juries.htm

Coop had a back injury, and another injury that year around that time. He was "Questionable" from week 11 on, so there is probably a corellation to playing through injury.

[AussieMate]

I thought he'd injured his ankle mid year which he played through? If I'm wrong let me know, but I thought alot if his second half of year drop offs in season 1 and 2 had alot to do with Cooper getting banged up (which could be a knock on his durability in itself if he can't get through a full season).

That was last year.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... juries.htm

Coop had a back injury, and another injury that year around that time. He was "Questionable" from week 11 on, so there is probably a corellation to playing through injury.

Cheers, I was sure there was an issue mid season both years which had me worried about his durability. Those early decent games don't help when it comes finals time and he's not handling the damage he'd succumb to (in reference just about every player is struggling with being banged up by and 10 but it noticable changed his output)

[ArrylT]

I think people have a tendency to see what they want to see when they watch film / games, especially if they have pre-conceived notions or subconscious bias. So if someone wants to see lack of effort, they'll see lack of effort, and if someone wants to see something different, they'll likely see that. This applies to everyone including NFL personnel (ie coaching staff).

I have seen occasional lapses from Amari Cooper over the years, and some drops - but never enough to worry me seriously. I have no doubt there were also times where Cooper wishes he had been involved more, and did not get into the flow of the game, and as a result had focus lapses there as well. No athlete at any level, can be focused 100% of the time. Further certain players need repetition, whether in practice and/or game script. We've seen that with RBs - some of them just get better when they carry the ball 15-20 times vs. 8-12, so I would not be surprised if it is true for WRs. 1 catch out of 3 targets looks a lot worst than 4 of 6 but if you start off 1 of 3, and with more involvement/repetition turn that into 4 of 6, and then 8 of 12 ... it should be noted that apart from 2017* Coopers catch % has improved year after year and this year is over 70%.

No matter how pro-ready a WR is coming out of College, there is a ton of different things that they have to improve upon in the NFL, and I believe that Cooper may have been affected by that as well. It could be something as 'simple' as hand technique on certain types of throws in certain situations, which when added to having to improve his ability against press coverage, and learning to play through more pain / having a higher pain threshold in the NFL that when combined with other factors made Cooper look a lot worse to many than reality suggested. A lot of this stuff players have to learn from other players because their coaches dont always teach them that stuff. Coaches focus on the game plan more than on individual skill improvements.

And finally, yeah sometimes a new page is needed - a clean break - simply because - as mentioned above - if other people perceive something in you that you may not have - that perception can take on a life of its own and snowballs. Eventually even if you do not believe it, you get affected by it.

In the end I do not think there is any easy answer to this. You can make it as black & white as you wish but I think it was a case of many factors from Carr to O-Line to Development Struggles to Injuries to Focus Lapses to loss of faith in Cooper from parts of the Organization to game scripts that went away from Cooper targets.

We've seen when a QB trusts their receiver, and for whatever reason(s) Carr & Cooper just were not as cohesive as they once were, and now we are seeing Prescott & Cooper establish that cohesiveness. It bodes well for the future - but the future is unpredictable, so while I feel confident that Cooper has turned a page, we shall see.

* - which I feel was a lost year due to many factors some mentioned already.

[Bot101]

I thought he'd injured his ankle mid year which he played through? If I'm wrong let me know, but I thought alot if his second half of year drop offs in season 1 and 2 had alot to do with Cooper getting banged up (which could be a knock on his durability in itself if he can't get through a full season).

That was last year.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... juries.htm

Coop had a back injury, and another injury that year around that time. He was "Questionable" from week 11 on, so there is probably a corellation to playing through injury.

Interesting. Theres nothing at all in his injury history.

[FantasyFreak]

That was last year.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... juries.htm

Coop had a back injury, and another injury that year around that time. He was "Questionable" from week 11 on, so there is probably a corellation to playing through injury.

Interesting. Theres nothing at all in his injury history.

Being a Raiders fan, I remembered that was going on, so I looked it up for you guys.

[Servo]

Can't say I watch the Raiders but I have to imagine Mack's effort was never in question but it does say something that both he and Cooper have been pretty huge game-changers for their respective teams ever since they left. Who knows what's in the water in Oakland.

There has been some horrible tackling on a few of Amari's big plays but he's been en fuego in Dallas so far. Unfortunately for them, Jason Garrett probably sticks around now LOL.

[Phaded]

Mack is a different situation though. When he was Oakland you only needed to worry about him. The Bears defense is a massive improvement over Oakland which gives him a better opportunity to make plays.

[Jfever]

Some times a change in scenery is all it takes to wake up a player that was just going through the motions. I think this applies more to Cooper than it does Mack. As far as Mack and his performance, I agree with what Phaded said above.