Height Weight : 211 Age : 24 : 6-1: 211: 24

Born : 6/17/1994 Miami, FL

College : Alabama

Experience : 4th season

High School : Miami Northwestern HS [FL]













The Perception:

It’s rare to witness a player with so much promise and past seasons of solid production take a nose dive in year three of their progression. This was indeed the fact when we discuss and layout what transpired from the 2017 horrific showing from the former Alabama product. The Oakland Raiders were a complete nightmare for most of last season offensively not building on past years of success with their young franchise quarterback (Derek Carr) and potential star wide receiver Amari Cooper. Timing, chemistry, and injuries played a large part in the lack of on field success for the Raiders - teamed up with uneven coaching (from the now departed Jack Del Rio), as Cooper completely became an afterthought in the offensive game plan.





It was clear from the beginning that something just wasn’t all there in terms of Cooper’s overall health. His speed, acceleration, and burst were clearly absent early on providing credence that he was dealing with an undisclosed problem. Adding to the obvious of playing through pain, Cooper took a giant step backward showing regression in his route running while fading back to old habits from his rookie campaign, dropping passes at alarming rates. Amari led the NFL in the worst category for wide receivers in his rookie season dropping 18 passes equating to a drop rate of 20 percent, although he rectified the situation in his sophomore season where he let the ball hit the ground only four times, vast improvement. While 2017 had great possibilities for success, Cooper again found his hands to be his biggest foe finding himself once again leading the league in dropped passes, lifting his drop rate to just over 17 percent.





After all was said and done, the 2017 season is one that Cooper will surely like to forget, but the lasting stench from his lack of production has experts running for the hills in their early evaluations, and rightfully so. Looking back to review his game by game breakdown the traits were rather shocking. In eight contests out of fourteen played (two were lost to injury), Amari caught three passes or less, with only securing one reception in three of those matches, like we said very troubling. While the dropped passes and the lack of involvement in the in the overall offensive scheme provides justification that Cooper should continue to struggle in 2018, ADF simply can’t get on board with that evaluation.

The Reality:

While it’s easy to conclude negatively on any player that has endured struggles – the same is being suggested that Cooper isn’t the player we thought he was and he’ll continue to find hardships carrying over into the 2018 season. We feel vastly different on the matter as we break down the Raiders and what the potential has in store for the upcoming campaign. First, the changeover in coaching staff and rehiring of Jon Gruden has us wondering what’s on the docket for this season. Gruden has been out of the game for a long time but brings a wealth of knowledge and film study to help Derek Carr get back on track in hopes to light up the stat-sheet once again with Amari Cooper. Gruden has had varying levels of success in his NFL career, but the fact that he’s more than capable in expelling the most from his talented quarterbacks and finding ways to generate plays to his number one receivers, Amari Cooper should be in for a giant uptick in workload and targets.





Another aspect to the Raiders offense that seems to garner little attention, but should be something discussed with great regularity, is the addition of former Green Bay Packer star Jordy Nelson. ADF is a supporter of Michael Crabtree; but we firmly believe Nelson will complement Cooper far better while providing instruction and tutelage to the young receiver assisting in perfecting his craft rounding out his overall game. Experience obtained from great success and playing with one of the best in the business in Aaron Rodgers, Nelson will become an invaluable tool for both Derek Carr and Amari Cooper under the new Gruden regime. Jordy will also attract more attention from opposing defensive coordinators allowing Cooper to see fewer double teams and potentially lining up against the second best defensive backs on the field, yet another uptick in praising the rebound of Cooper for 2018.





The Outlook:

Truthfully ADF is baffled in the public perception that Cooper is a player that has shown his true colors and won’t amount to anything great this season and beyond. To be fair on the young receiver, 2017 was the anomaly as the Oakland Raiders experienced crisis in terms of understanding what they actually were. Derek Carr should find his way back continuing to progress in the right direction replanting that perception that he is a great young quarterback. With the fruits of that success, Amari Cooper will become a great benefactor seeing his statistics rise to perhaps career highs.





158.4 fantasy points, we must look past that abysmal season and understand he is two and three years removed from putting up solid tallies. In his rookie season (2015) Cooper generated a healthy 212.7 fantasy points, and continued that trend into his sophomore campaign (2016) where he improved those numbers amassing 230.9 fantasy points, very productive. Amari currently has an ADP (Average Draft Position) as high as pick 40 and has been seen to drop all the way to pick 85 in early mock drafts and expert polls. There is a great discrepancy in his current worth as some are still willing to take the chance that he will rebound with selections in the middle of the third round, while others greatly undervalue the receiver believing he will again flop and produce nothing more than what we witnessed a season ago, with selections in the middle of the seventh round. While Cooper did fall off a cliff last season producing a merefantasy points, we must look past that abysmal season and understand he is two and three years removed from putting up solid tallies. In his rookie season (2015) Cooper generated a healthyfantasy points, and continued that trend into his sophomore campaign (2016) where he improved those numbers amassingfantasy points, very productive.



