Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper decided a lot of fantasy football semifinal matchups in Week 16. He had 11 catches for a team-record 265 yards with two touchdowns and caught a two-point conversion.
Cooper, who is in his second season with the Browns, has 150 catches for 2,410 yards and 14 touchdowns in 32 games. He has helped Cleveland get to 10 wins and get into a position to make the playoffs.
Amari Cooper’s NFL Roots Begin in the Bay Area
Cooper played at Alabama and set school records in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns in only three seasons. He was part of a national championship team in 2012 and won the 2014 Biletnikoff Award as the most outstanding receiver in college football.
Coming off a three-win season, the Oakland Raiders selected Cooper with the fourth pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. The players drafted ahead of him were quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota and linebacker Dante Fowler.
Cooper made an instant impact as a rookie with 72 catches, 1,070, and six touchdowns and was named to the Pro Bowl. He finished third in the Offensive Rookie of the Year race behind Todd Gurley and Winston.
In his second season in 2016, Cooper returned to the Pro Bowl and helped the Raiders reach the postseason for the first time since 2002. He had two catches for 10 yards in an AFC Wild Card game loss to the Houston Texans.
Cooper’s third year got off to a slow start, with only 13 receptions for 118 yards in the first five games. The highlight of the season for Cooper was an 11-catch, 210-yard performance in Week 7. His career lows for receptions (48) and receiving yards (680) are from the 2017 season.
Traded to Big D
The Raiders hired Jon Gruden to be head coach for the 2018 season, and Cooper had a slow start with 22 receptions for 280 yards and one touchdown in the first six games. The Raiders traded Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys for a first-round pick in October.
The Cowboys were 3-4 and in need of a top wide receiver target for Dak Prescott after Dez Bryant was released in the offseason. Cooper and Prescott were in sync by the end of the season and both headed to the postseason and Pro Bowl. Cooper had 53 catches and six touchdowns in nine games with the Cowboys.
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Cooper signed a five-year, $100 million deal with the Cowboys after another Pro Bowl season in 2019. He responded with 92 catches, 1,114 receiving yards, and five touchdowns in 2020.
After the 2021 season, the Cowboys traded him along with a sixth-round pick to Cleveland for a fifth-round and sixth-round pick. Dallas elevated CeeDee Lamb to the top wide receiver spot and cleared $16 million in salary cap space.
Cooper finished his time in Dallas with 292 catches, 3,893 receiving yards, and 27 touchdowns in 56 games.
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