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NFL insider says WR Amari Cooper is ‘the perfect player’ for Bills

NFL insider Jordan Schultz feels as though wide receiver Amari Cooper will be a "perfect" addition to the Buffalo Bills for several reasons.

Kyle Silagyi

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Very rarely in the NFL does the quote-unquote ‘sensible’ thing happen.

You see it all the time. Maneuvers that make perfect sense on paper for a bevy of reasons oft go unexecuted in favor of head-scratching decisions that generally play out as expected. This is why the idea of the Buffalo Bills acquiring wide receiver Amari Cooper gave some fans pause—it simply made too much sense. The cash-strapped Bills were in desperate need of a bonafide primary wide receiver with an affordable cap hit, and the struggling Cleveland Browns just so happened to employ a five-time Pro Bowl wideout making less than $1 million this season.

It was a match made in heaven, so it surely wasn’t going to happen.

And then it did.

Related: Two NFC All-Pros weigh in on Amari Cooper trade to Bills: ‘They got a guy over there’

Buffalo acquired the seven-time 1,000-yard wide receiver last Tuesday, pairing with otherworldly quarterback Josh Allen a proven veteran who has been one of the NFL’s most productive pass catchers over the past decade. News of the trade was initially broken by Fox Sports insider Jordan Schultz, who recently broke down the timeline of the deal and the Bills’ pursuit of Cooper on an episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd. 

“They had been targeting him, really over the last couple of weeks,” Schultz said. “It was more Buffalo being ultra-aggressive than Cleveland saying ‘We want to unload Amari Cooper.’ What happened was, I think on Monday, they had a pretty good idea that that could happen, and then Tuesday morning, they were going to touch base. The parameters were in place and they were able to get a deal done.”

Schultz went on to speak about the elements that made this trade so attractive for Buffalo on paper, the factors that fans had pointed to in the leadup to the deal that made it so appealing.

“With Amari Cooper, not only is he a great player, but in many ways, he’s the perfect player for Buffalo,” Schultz said. “He’s got five Pro Bowls, he’s a 1,000-yard guy, we know all that. His personality, I was talking to some people in Cleveland’s building, and they said one of the great things about Coop, and he’s told me this as well over the years, is you know what you’re getting every day. He’s not going to complain about not getting the football, he’s going to run the right route, he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be. 

Amari Coope
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“As great as Stefon Diggs was, that relationship had really run its course. Cooper is going to come in, be a professional, plus he’s going to be motivated. He’s going to be a free agent after this year, and oh, by the way, he’s only making $800,000. This was a very sensible move by Buffalo. Should he play really well and leave in free agency, the Bills could get as much as a [compensatory fifth-round draft] pick. A lot of really good value in general for the Bills”

The Cooper trade is an excellent example of a team not overthinking things and simply executing a move that made sense; Buffalo needed a top option for cheap, and it acquired a player who flawlessly checked those boxes. Fans will (likely) have their first opportunity to see Cooper don a Bills uniform this Sunday when the team hosts the Tennessee Titans in a Week 7 clash.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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