Bills address a big need need by swinging trade for Browns receiver Amari Cooper


The AFC East was a hotbed of trade activity Monday.

First, the New York Jets made an expected move, acquiring Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams -- reuniting him with his former Packers teammate, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, in the process -- just hours after their 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. Not to be out done, the Bills made a blockbuster move of their own: Acquiring Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper and a 2025 sixth-round draft pick. In exchange, Bills general manager Brandon Beane agreed to send Cleveland a 2025 third-round draft pick and a 2026 seventh-round selection.

The Bills officially announced the trade about 2:30 p.m. Monday, acting fast to improve their wide receiver room ahead of the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 5.

On the surface, the trade makes sense for both sides. At 1-5, the Browns are going nowhere, and the 30-year-old Cooper is in the final year of his contract. Getting a top-100 pick for him is pretty good value.

The Bills, meanwhile, clearly need help at the position. Khalil Shakir has started strong as the team's primary slot receiver, but the rest of the group -- rookie Keon Coleman, Mack Hollins, Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling -- has struggled to create consistent separation for quarterback Josh Allen.

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Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper walks off the field after a game against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Landover, Md. T
he Buffalo Bills traded a 2025 third-round pick and a 2026 seventh-round pick for Cooper, a 10th-year receiver 691 career catches. Daniel Kucin Jr.


In Cooper, the Bills are getting a receiver with seven 1,000-yard seasons on his resume, including four of the past five years. He became the first receiver in Browns franchise history to record back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons when he did in 2022 and 2024, and set a Cleveland single-game record with 265 receiving yards on 11 catches during a Dec. 24, 2023 game against Houston. He is the fourth player in NFL history with at least three career 200-yard receiving games, joining Don Hutson (four), Charlie Hennigan (three) and Tyreek Hill (three).

A former first-round pick by the Raiders in 2015 (No. 4 overall), Cooper, 6-foot-1 and 211 pounds, has played 3½ years for the Raiders, 3½ years for Dallas and the last two-plus years for Cleveland.

"As far as playing with Josh, I've always been a fan of his game," Cooper told NFL reporter Josina Anderson shortly after the trade was announced. "I'm sure to see it up close and personal and play alongside him -- I'm sure it's going to be great.

"I've been in this situation before, so that helps. I'm just excited to turn a new chapter and to be able to contribute."

For his career, Cooper has 691 catches for 9,736 yards and 62 touchdowns over 146 regular-season games. Cooper was traded from the Raiders to the Cowboys for a first-round draft pick ahead of the trade deadline in 2018. A native of Miami, Fla., he starred in college at Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide win the 2012 BCS national championship and setting school records for receptions (228), receiving yards (3,463) and touchdown catches (31) in only three seasons.

A big part of the appeal in trading for Cooper is his contract. His base salary in 2024 is just $1.21 million, of which the Bills will owe $806,000, according to contracts website Spotrac. Given that the Bills had just $2.9 million of space under the salary cap as of Monday morning, according to NFL Players’ Association calculations, that’s a major factor in the deal working well for Buffalo.

Cooper finished the 2023 season with a career-best 1,250 receiving yards for the Browns, which would suggest he’s got a lot left in the tank. It’s worth noting, however, that he has not had a particularly strong start to 2024, with 24 catches for 250 yards and two touchdowns in six games.

Of course, there is more to that than meets the eye. According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Cooper has been the target for passes that have traveled 473 yards through the air, but fallen incomplete. That leads the NFL. A different analytics website, FTN Fantasy, has Cooper targeted for 455 air yards on passes it deems uncatchable, which also leads the league.

Going from one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL, Deshaun Watson, to one of the best, Allen, should obviously help Cooper’s production. One other advanced stat to note: Cooper is creating 2.7 yards of separation this season, again according to Next Gen Stats, which is his best since 2018. His presence should make life easier for Shakir and tight end Dalton Kincaid, as well as Bills’ other receivers.

Beane likely didn't love giving up a third-round pick, but he's still well stocked with draft capital in 2025. The Bills own their own selections in rounds one, two, four, and six, as well as Minnesota's second-round pick, a fourth-round pick from Chicago and extra picks in the sixth round from the New York Giants and Cleveland.
Additionally, the Bills are projected to receive compensatory picks in the fourth and fifth rounds for the losses of receiver Gabe Davis and edge rusher Leonard Floyd in free agency, according to the website Over the Cap. If those picks are awarded, Beane will have 10 picks in April to maneuver with.
 
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Analysis: Cooper gives Bills answers to tests from defensive coordinators​


The situation was screaming for a play-action pass.

It was the fourth quarter of the Buffalo Bills’ loss in Houston just two weeks ago. The Bills had run the ball well all game. The Texans’ defense, protecting a three-point lead, adjusted and put eight men in the box on four straight first-down plays.

Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady seemingly gritted his teeth and called runs into the strength of the defense each time. It didn’t work.

Now with Amari Cooper on the field for the Bills, the calculus changes for any defensive coordinator who might get sick of giving up yards on the ground.

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Wide receiver Amari Cooper, then with the Browns, makes a catch against Bills cornerback Dane Jackson during a 2022 game. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News

The Bills have a downfield threat and a player who can better get open against man-to-man coverage. Cooper is really good at intermediate and downfield routes.

Cooper ranked 10th in the NFL last season in catches of 20-plus yards with 21, and he was second in catches of 40-plus yards with eight. His catch average of 17.4 last season was third-best in the league. In 2022, Cooper was tied for ninth in 20-plus-yard catches with 18.

“An outside perimeter receiver, not that he can’t play inside,” said Bills general manager Brandon Beane. “But very good route runner. Smooth. He can stretch the field vertically. I think he was high 4.3s when he came out. You still see that. He’s had a high average per catch in his career.”

Cooper is probably not as elite a separator as Stefon Diggs, but he’s pretty good in that element of route running as well, and he’s a lot better at separation against man coverage than Keon Coleman, Mack Hollins or the just-jettisoned Marquez Valdez-Scantling.

Coach Sean McDermott always talks about matchups in the NFL, and it’s easy to see how Cooper helps the Bills against their tougher matchups.

Kansas City, Baltimore, Houston, the New York Jets. They all have high-quality defensive backfields. Kansas City’s is great.

Remember the divisional-round playoff loss to the Chiefs last January?

The Bills’ offense was rolling. The first 30 runs in the game over the first three quarters averaged 5.6 yards a carry. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo adjusted. The last nine runs in the fourth quarter netted just 12 yards.

Hopefully, defenses are going to maintain the healthy respect they’ve had for Josh Allen’s downfield passing, and the Bills will continue to see two-high shell coverages.

The Bills have a better answer for that approach than ever before in Allen’s career with the power-blocking offensive line they’ve built and now the running back combination of James Cook and rookie Ray Davis.

At some point, defenses have to creep up toward the line of scrimmage against the run game. When a safety wants to play up, Cooper should be able to make them pay. Hit them with the play-action pass.

Hollins has seen 63.6% of the Bills’ offensive snaps through the first six games. Any Bills fan understands that’s too high. Hollins is a good No. 5 wideout and a valuable special-teams ace. Once Cooper gets adjusted to his new surroundings, Hollins can settle into that role.

Cooper played mostly X wide receiver in Cleveland, on the line of scrimmage opposite the tight end. That’s where Coleman plays. Cooper easily can fit into the flanker position, off the line of scrimmage and opposite the X. But if Cooper takes some of Coleman’s snaps at the X, that’s perfectly fine from this perspective. Coleman is playing 64% of the snaps.

“I’m not going to pen him in one spot,” Beane said. “I think he can play either one. He’s football smart. We move our guys around.”


Cooper’s ability to get open also should help Allen play on-rhythm from the pocket a little more. Against the Texans, with no Shakir on the field, and facing a ton of man coverage, Allen was forced to get off schedule and try to create outside the pocket way too much. And he didn’t find anyone open, which was a big part of the reason why he went 9 of 30. Allen never should have a 9 of 30 stat line.

Rolling Cooper, Coleman and Khalil Shakir out on the field gets the Bills closer to a top-10 wide receiver lineup. Let’s call it top 12 for now, presuming Cooper gets acclimated in the next month.

The addition of Cooper probably doesn’t bode well for a big increase in targets for Curtis Samuel. He’s looking like an expensive version of Isaiah McKenzie right now, which is not a compliment. Brady wanted Samuel. We’ll see if the coach can create opportunities for him.

Long-term implications​

Cooper is in the last year of a $20 million-a-year contract he signed in Dallas in 2020. He will cost the Bills a mere $806,667 the rest of the season.

Could he be more than just a rental for 11 regular-season games and the playoffs? Maybe, but not at the expense of a couple of younger players on the roster.

Defensive end Greg Rousseau will enter the last year of his contract in 2025, and his cap number will be $13 million if he’s not extended.

Rousseau is the top priority player to re-sign before the start of the 2025 season. Good defensive ends are hard to find, especially for a team picking in the back end of the first round of the draft every year.

Rousseau is a must-keep player for the defense.

Shakir will enter the last year of his contract in 2025. The hope and expectation is he will continue his current trajectory as a high-quality slot receiver, which means he will need to be resigned in the summer of 2025.

Then there’s the cornerback situation. Rasul Douglas’ contract is up after this season. Christian Benford will enter the last year of his deal in 2025. Douglas is playing on a deal that averages $7 million a year. He will turn 31 in August. That might depress his market value a bit and make him affordable. If Benford stays on his current trajectory, the Bills probably want to keep him, too.

“There’s no rule that we can’t sign him back,” Beane said of Cooper. “We’ll just play it out this year. See how it fits on both sides.”
If Cooper goes to another team in free agency in March, the Bills would be in line for a compensatory draft pick in the 2026 draft.
 
Sukie -- Any confirmed reliable inside information reports what number Amari will be wearing and how he likes his towels?
 
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