Bills swing trade for Cleveland receiver Amari Cooper
The Bills have acquired help at receiver in the form of veteran 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.
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.
