Oakland Raiders |
Height: 6-1 Weight:
211 Age: 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.
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 mere 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.
While ADF is
looking to go on record and suggest that Amari is poised to have a bounce back
season, we must throw a little water on the fire providing caution when
reviewing the upcoming Raiders season schedule. Oakland could be in tough week
to week with their entire receiving core as they hold the second hardest slate
of pass defenders as seen from last season’s statistics. We understand that a
lot will change from now until the season kicks-off, but this could become a
concern and is something to follow closely before entering your fantasy drafts.
ADF still has no issue endorsing Cooper as a high end WR2, with the potential
to become a low end WR1 when all is said and done.
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