Amari Cooper still waiting: Could Chicago be the answer? |
Dustin Riese
· · 1 day ago
Every single offseason, you have a cast of talented veterans that remain unsigned into the preseason, only to settle for one-year deals just before the start of the regular season. This offseason has been no exception, as plenty of talented players remain on the free agent market and are waiting for someone to meet their demands.
However, unlike past years where they may have been a handful of talented players left at this point, this offseason has seen an overhaul of talented players across the board at several different positions. Take the wide receiver position, for example, where long-time veteran Amari Cooper remains a free agent and, for whatever reason, isn't getting many offers at this point. I understand he is coming off a down season, and teams may be looking at that as the beginning of the end, but this is a 31-year-old veteran who has accumulated more than 10000 career yards and can still make plays in the field. He has to not only be the most notable name on offense remaining, but you could make the case that he is the biggest surprise of all the remaining free agents. The longer he waits for a contract, the less money it will take to get him, and that leads you to the question of whether or not the Bears should make a run at Cooper to add to an already talented room. I get what you might be asking. Why add a player like Cooper when you have DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, and Luther Burden, among others? Well, the answer is simple. Cooper is a proven veteran who not only would improve the passing game in the red zone, but he is a great route runner and one of the better possession guys in the game. Considering Keenan Allen is back with the Chargers, the Bears could use a possession wide receiver, so why not after a guy in Cooper who is younger than Allen and still has a few highly productive years left in the tank. Since breaking into the league with the Raiders as the No. 4 overall selection of the 2015 NFL draft, the 6-1, 211-pound Cooper has been not only one of the more consistent receivers in the game, but has also been one of the best producers. You don't accumulate 10,033 career yards if you are not producing, and yet a lot of the league overlooks him when it comes to some of the league's best options. No one is saying he is a top-10 wide receiver at this point in his career, but when you look around the league, it's hard to find many receivers who have more career yards receiving than he does. In fact, Cooper ranks eighth in the NFL among active players with his 10033 yards and is less than 1000 yards from moving into the top six. Not only was 2024 a down season, but I don't think people realize how down of a year it was as Cooper combined for 547 yards and four scores while splitting time with both the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns. To put that into perspective, it was only the third time in his NFL career that he was held under 1000 yards, and the first time since the 2018 season when that happened. Diving deeper than that, the 547 yards was also a career low, surpassing his previous low of 680 yards in the 2017 season. His four touchdowns were also the lowest total of his career, as he has logged 64 career scores up to this point. Whether those struggles are a sign of the steady decline ahead or something else remains to be seen, but you can credit some of his struggles to playing for the Browns last season, while the fit in Buffalo wasn't there. When Cooper is on top of his game, you are looking at a player who is going to finish around 1200 yards and haul in around seven or eight touchdowns per game. That may not scream a No.1 guy in today's game, but those are No. 1 receiver numbers for some teams, but at the very least, he is still a great No. 2 option and would pair well with Moore. If the Bears show some interest in Cooper, failing to bring him in for even a workout would be inexcusable. Sure, he may not be the player he once was, but in this offense with the weapons they have, you can almost guarantee that he would give you 800-900 yards and, at the very least, six scores. Not bad production for a no. 2 option, as Williams would have another weapon to play with and a good one at that. Getting Cooper in for a workout is only half the battle, as the financial side of things is where the biggest hangup will be. Sure, Cooper knows his worth as a player, and you can bet he is trying to land a deal in the 10-12 million range for multiple years. Had he not had the season he had last year, that would be a no-brainer, but given his struggles last season, any multi-year deal is risky. Still, for one year and seven to nine million for that year, that alone would be worth the risk, as Cooper still has enough left in the tank to play above those numbers.
