The Buffalo Bills decided to add some help to their offense on Tuesday, acquiring Amari Cooper in a trade with the Cleveland Browns. Earlier in the day, Bills fans saw the New York Jets trade for Davante Adams and decided that the Jets couldn't be the only team making moves in the AFC East.
Cooper is now off to join Josh Allen in Buffalo and is, without a doubt, getting an upgrade at quarterback. As Ian Hartitz pointed out on X, Cooper was not having a good year in Cleveland. According to Hartitz and ESPN Analytics, Cooper was "rated as the single-worst WR in the NFL this year".
ESPN Analytics has Amari Cooper rated as the single-worst WR in the NFL this year
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) October 15, 2024
Of course, this is more of a reflection on Cooper having the misfortune of having to catch passes from Deshaun Watson than his own talent level. There's no doubt that Cooper is a top-tier wide receiver and he's going to be a wonderful addition to the Bills offense.
Cooper immediately jumps to the top of the Bills' wide receiver depth chart, bumping Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman to WR2 and WR3 respectively.
Amari Cooper can flip the script on his 2024 season
For those wondering if there's any truth to Cooper being the worst wide receiver in the league, it was only one season ago when he recorded a career-high 1,250 yards. That feat is even more impressive when you consider that the Browns had five different quarterbacks starting games for them in 2023.
This year, despite having Watson as his quarterback, Cooper still somehow managed to snag 24 receptions for 250 yards and find the end zone twice. Just imagine the production he'll be able to have now that he has one of the best quarterbacks in the league throwing him the ball.
It was a rough start to the year for Cooper and there's no denying that but unfortunately for wide receivers, if their quarterback is bad, that's going to impact their stats as well. Let's see how quickly Cooper can turn things around once he gets to Buffalo.