• Amari Cooper shines in several areas: Cooper ranks in at least the 80th percentile in yards per route run in all 10 situations we use to evaluate wide receivers in fantasy football.
• Jerry Jeudy could cut into Cooper’s target share: Cooper hasn’t had any competition for targets from other wide receivers with the Cleveland Browns but now, he does.
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The player profile series gives the most in-depth view of a player possible using the best data points at PFF’s disposal to look at how good the player has performed, what competition the player has for touches, and how other teammates and coaches will impact each player's performance.
Last updated: 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, July 10
Player performance
Cooper has been a consistently good wide receiver throughout his NFL career. In nine years, he’s finished with a 70.0-plus PFF receiving grade in all but one season. Two of his three highest-graded seasons have come since joining the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns have been able to give Cooper a target share that he deserves, and his receiving production has increased as expected. He’s stayed relatively healthy in that time, leading to 2,410 receiving yards over the last two seasons, which ranks eighth-most for wide receivers.
Cooper is in the 80th percentile or better in every kind of situation he’s been put in over the last three seasons. It’s possible Cooper is a top-10 wide receiver in the NFL and has just never been given the right combination of target share and quarterback.
Cooper recently celebrated his 30th birthday, so we would expect him to take a step backward instead of a step forward.
Competition for touches
Cooper has been the Browns' X receiver since joining the team, and that’s unlikely to change. Jerry Jeudy was added to the team, but he and all the wide receivers lower on the depth chart have more experience at the Z spot or in the slot. Cooper should still be on the field for at least 85% of Cleveland's pass plays.
While Cooper’s target rate has been better since joining the Browns, there was still room for his target rate to be even higher. With Jeudy now on the roster, we could see his target rate decline a little bit. Cooper’s 2.18 yards per route run over the last two seasons is by far the best for Browns wide receivers over the last two seasons. Of the nine wide receivers with at least 25 routes over the last two years, the next closest has been Donovan Peoples-Jones at 1.18. Jeudy is a significant improvement over any competition Cooper’s faced at wide receiver in Cleveland.
Impact of teammates
Cooper continues to have Kevin Stefanski as his head coach. One great piece of news is his snap count per game has steadily increased. The Browns have never been a pass-heavy team, but they’ve also had a healthy Nick Chubb. Chubb coming back from major injuries may lead the Browns to pass more, potentially leading to another few routes per game for Cooper.
The big question mark is at quarterback as Deshaun Watson hasn’t lived up to expectations since the Browns traded for him. Cooper averaged 17.6 PPR points per game last season in the five games Watson played over 50% of Cleveland's snaps and 13.8 without him. The opposite was true in 2022, as he averaged 16.1 without Watson and 11.6 with him.
It’s at least possible Watson returns to his 2020 form even though it’s been four years since his last good season. If that happens, Cooper has a chance to have the best season of his career.
The only bright note for Cooper’s fantasy value with Watson currently is he doesn’t seem to throw as much to tight end David Njoku compared to other backup quarterbacks. Njoku has been Cooper’s biggest competition for targets to date. In 2022, Njoku went from 10.8 fantasy points per game without Watson to 9.0 with. In 2023, he averaged 15.0 without Watson and 8.3 with him.
It’s possible Cooper would be better off with new backup Jameis Winston, who throws to wide receivers more often and throws deep more often. It’s also possible Winston will realize how good Njoku is and throw to Njoku more than Watson would.
Bottom line
Cooper has been a consistently great wide receiver who potentially could be elite in a better situation. Cooper is very likely to be a fantasy starter all season if he stays healthy but unlikely to be a top-15 wide receiver in fantasy points per game.
Footnotes
- Statistics for the tables and charts were generally chosen based on their ability to predict future fantasy performance on either per game or per opportunity basis, or chosen for their ability to describe the player relative to other players at the same position.
- Opportunities for this purpose are defined by passing dropbacks, rushing attempts and receiving routes run.
- Numbers are either by season or based on the last three years. For rookies, only college numbers are included. For non-rookies, only NFL numbers are included, even if they played in college in the last three years.
- Because college competition is relatively easier than NFL competition, it can be expected that most rookies will see a decline in their numbers compared to their historic numbers.
- For all of the tables in this article, colors range from blue (good or high) to red (bad or low).
- All percentiles or colors compare the given player to other players with a high sample of opportunities. Generally, it’s one-third of the possible opportunities given the sample. If the player in question doesn’t have enough opportunities, they are still compared, even though a player could look good or bad on that small sample size which might not be as predictive.
- Information on running back utilization classifications and importance can be found here, wide receiver here and tight end here.
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