Amari Cooper is a wide receiver who recently signed for the Cleveland Browns in the NFL. He was traded by the Dallas Cowboys on March 16, 2022, in exchange for a fifth-round pick and a swap of sixth-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. During his college career, he was the recipient of the 2014 Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the nation’s top receiver. 

Who is Amari Cooper?

Amari Cooper was born on June 17, 1994, in Miami, Florida. He did his high schooling at Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Miami, Florida where he established himself as a four-star football recruit and was ranked amongst the nation’s top wide receivers by most scouting magazines and websites after enjoying a glittering high school career. After considering offers from Florida State, Miami, and Ohio State among others he eventually committed to the University of Alabama to play his college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide between 2012 and 14.

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Cooper played in all 14 games in his freshman year at Alabama, starting the last nine. He made a team-leading 59 receptions for thousand yards and 11 touchstones, the latter of which broke Alabama’s 62-year-old record held by Al Lary.

Further, his receptions and receiving yards broke Alabama’s freshman records. These performances earned Cooper consensus Freshman All-American honours and he was also selected to the SEC All-Freshman team as well.

Cooper’s junior season was also a record-breaking one. He broke Alabama’s single-game receiving yards record against Tennessee and finished with 224 yards. He made 124 receptions for the season which was both a school record and an SEC record and made 16 touchdowns which was a school record. He also became Alabama’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. This put him in the reckoning for the Heisman Trophy for which he eventually finished as the second runner-up. He went on to win the Biletnikoff Award that season and was also named a unanimous All-American.

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For the 2015 NFL draft, Cooper was widely stated to be a 1st round pick, with some projections even predicting him to go as high as the fourth pick. He was eventually selected as the fourth overall pick by the Oakland Raiders. 

Cooper enjoyed a record-breaking rookie season with the Raiders. He made his professional and NFL debut on September 13, 2015 in a 33–13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, recording 5 receptions for 47 yards in the game. In his third game ever, he set a franchise rookie record when he received eight receptions for 134 yards against the Cleveland Browns, also becoming the first Raiders receiver since 2005 to record consecutive 100+ yard receiving games. On November 8, he broke Tim Brown’s record for rookie receptions (43), and in the following month became the first rookie in the Raiders’ history to reach the 1,000-yard mark.

The following season was a solid one as well, and at the end of it, he was ranked 53rd on the NFL Top Hundred Players of 2017 by his peers. 

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In 2018, Cooper was traded by the Raiders to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He enjoyed a successful campaign in his first year with the Cowboys earning two NFC Offensive Player of the Week awards that season, and finishing with 75 receptions, 1,005 yards, and seven touchdown receptions in his 15 games. 

On March 17, 2020, the Cowboys rewarded Cooper with a five-year contract extension worth $100 million of which $60 million were guaranteed. 

He has now been moved on to the Cleveland Browns by the Cowboys when they swapped him for a fifth-round pick and also swap of sixth-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Cooper is a passionate chess player as well.