Week 1 kicks off tonight in Philadelphia between the Eagles and Cowboys and while fans are getting ready for the start of the NFL season, a shocking announcement has been made involving former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Amari Cooper. According to Ian Rapoport, Cooper, who just signed with the Las Vegas Raiders not too long ago, is retiring from the NFL.
Comeback no more: #Raiders WR Amari Cooper has informed the team that he no longer has the desire to play and intends to retire, per The Insiders.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 4, 2025
Cooper had signed at the end of camp in a hopeful reunion with the team that drafted. Now, he’s headed home from Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/jEZHPHBPBq
Cooper went unsigned this offseason for a very long time but signed with the Raiders, the team that drafted him back in 2015 and became a Pro Bowl player for them. Cooper was then traded from the Raiders to the Dallas Cowboys in 2018 and played with them through the 2021 season.
He was a solid player in Dallas and a great weapon for Dak Prescott, but was then traded to the Cleveland Browns going into the 2022 season. Then in the middle of last season, the Browns traded Cooper to the Bills to give Josh Allen a go-to wideout. However, Cooper was not impactful whatsoever for the Bills for various reasons.
WR Amari Cooper announces shocking retirement ahead of 2025 season
When Cooper was traded to the Bills, he was expected to become a go-to guy for Allen and open up the playbook for Buffalo. However, he had just 297 yards and 2 touchdowns with the Bills, one that was in his debut against the Tennessee Titans in Week 7.
Being traded midseason is already tough enough for a player. Adding an injury into the mix makes it even more difficult. Cooper would then suffer a wrist injury the following week against the Seattle Seahawks that kept him out for two games. He had just one game of double digit targets (Week 14 vs. Rams) and had just two games of 4+ receptions.
A lot of fans believed that maybe Buffalo would bring back Cooper for another season to give him a full offseaosn to learn the playbook and build up chemistry. Instead, the Bills went in a different direction by signing Joshua Palmer and Elijah Moore while Cooper waited awhile to make a decision to sign with the Raiders.
However, his second stint with the Raiders comes to an abrupt end and he won’t be taking a snap this coming season.