The Monday afternoon NFL news drops continue as a big-name veteran finally agreed to a contract ahead of the 2025 season. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, wide receiver Amari Cooper returns to the Las Vegas Raiders on a one-year deal.
While Cooper experienced a tumultuous 2024 following a midseason trade and remained unsigned deep into the buildup to the new season, he now finds his way back to the team that drafted him for a homecoming at sorts. The situation appears even more intriguing after Rapoport broke the news earlier in the day that current Raiders wideout Jakobi Meyers requested a trade which was ultimately denied.
With that in mind, does Cooper bring any fantasy football value to the table? Should he be on your draft radar, or is he simply a player to monitor moving forward?
Should you draft Amari Cooper in fantasy football?
A fall from grace
The vibes of Cooper’s homecoming with the Raiders are undoubtedly high since it brings a fun story to the twilight of the veteran’s career. However, fantasy football championships are won with points, not feelings. Let’s dive in with some numbers.
Cooper arrived with the Cleveland Browns via trade in 2022 and put up back-to-back campaigns of 72+ catches, 1,160+ yards and five or more touchdowns. He earned a Pro Bowl appearance in 2023 and seemed positioned for another big in his age-30 season last year. However, the veteran drastically underperformed through his six contests with the Browns, tallying just 24 catches on 53 targets for 250 yards and two scores. His best performance of that stint came in Week 3 with seven catches for 86 yards and those two touchdowns, but he finished with more than 42 yards in just one of those other five games.
In Week 7, Cooper was traded to the Buffalo Bills and the hype for a resurgence understandably grew in an offense orchestrated by the eventual MVP, Josh Allen. However, the receiver caught only 20-of-32 targets for 297 yards and two more touchdowns over his eight games in Buffalo. Cooper accumulated 55 or more yards in three of those contests, but finished with 12 or fewer yards in his five other appearances. He saw his snaps significantly reduced as a member of the Bills’ WR-by-committee attack and played no more than 54% of snaps in any given week.
In the end, Cooper finished the 2024 campaign with a paltry 44 receptions on 85 targets with 547 yards and four touchdowns to show for his work. He finished 61st of 98 qualifying wideouts in PFF receiving grade, the worst result of his career since 2017, his third year in the NFL. In PPR fantasy football formats, 30-year-old also averaged just 8.8 FPPG, far below the range of a starter while producing only four weeks with a WR31 finish or better over his 14 total games.
Washed or not?
Since Cooper hasn’t even been on a team throughout most of the offseason and training camp periods, he’s not on the radar of fantasy football drafters yet. Now that he’s signed with the Raiders, his ADP may very well see an increase from its current consensus place outside the top-250 players in most formats. That doesn’t mean he’s worth snagging, though.
Really, Cooper looks like more of a landmine in fantasy football than a real player you can count on to contribute. Whether due to lack of motivation or the effects of the rapidly-approaching age cliff, the veteran saw his top speed decrease into the mid-17 mph range from somewhere between 19 and 20 mph in most weeks of his 2023 campaign. Now, that may have been due to Cooper running fewer go routes than he used to, but he still did a lot of his work as a vertical threat last season. It seems age may be catching up to him, and a slight uptick in average separation seems like more of an indictment on defenses worrying less about him than a sign that he’s truly generating space between himself and the closest defender.
Plus, look at the Raiders’ depth chart. Star tight end Brock Bowers certainly remains the primary option in the passing game and actually saw 18% of his snaps out wide last season, plus 40% from the slot. He works more from traditional receiver positioning than most players at his position and will earn plenty of targets. While Meyers’ status becomes a smidge uncertain thanks to his trade request, Las Vegas doesn’t have to honor the demand. It’s best to assume he’s still here as the primary wideout until proven otherwise.
That leaves 2023 third-round pick Tre Tucker, 2025 second-rounder Jack Bech, and 2025 fourth-round selection Dont’e Thornton Jr. as the remaining wide receivers alongside Cooper. Bech plays a possession role similar to Meyers, but Tucker and Meyers have each earned some hype through training camp and preseason thanks to their field-stretching ability. For a team that’s in the midst of a re-tool with eyes on a culture reset and the longer-term picture, it’s safe to assume Cooper may compete with those guys for snaps instead of coming in to secure a true starting job. Plus, the Raiders’ offensive line doesn’t project as a high-performing unit, so downfield routes may end up scarce anyways with little time to throw in a run-heavy attack.
Stash or pass?
Between the rotation risk with players of a similar archetype and the possibility of regression due to age, Cooper’s likely better left undrafted — or on someone else’s bench as a landmine. Let your league mates take the risk and target players with higher upside in the later rounds of fantasy football drafts in 2025.
