In the beginning of the 2018 season, former number four overall pick Amari Cooper looked like he might be flaming out with the Oakland Raiders. New head coach Jon Gruden just didn’t seem to be making an effort to get the talented wide receiver involved in his offense. Derek Carr didn’t seem to trust him, likely from Cooper’s bouts of dropping easily catchable balls. However, Cooper looked like an entirely different player with the Dallas Cowboys. Now, he looks to build on his promising season with his new team.

Amari Cooper Set for Explosive 2019 With the Dallas Cowboys

Second Year in the System

Cooper faced an uphill battle to succeed with Dallas. Mid-season trades rarely work out for wide receivers, making Cooper’s season with Dallas show even more promising. Since 2000, only two wide receivers traded during the season have averaged more than 50 yards per game.

Deion Branch is the biggest success story. He was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the New England Patriots in 2010 and went on to score five touchdowns and average 64.2 yards-per-game (YPG). However, there should be an asterisk next to this stat. Branch played for the Patriots from 2002 to 2005 and was Super Bowl MVP his final year with the team. Sure, Branch was gone for a full five years, but his transition was easier than most players.

However, Cooper blew Branch’s stats out of the water after his trade. After only catching 22 passes for 280 yards (46.7 YPG), Cooper exploded for 725 yards and six touchdowns in his nine games with Dallas. He averaged a healthy 80.6 YPG. He took over a few games, putting up ten catches for 217 yards and three touchdowns against his new division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now that Cooper and his new team are getting comfortable with each other, he will only improve and become more consistent in 2019. Don’t forget that Cooper will be playing on his fifth-year option and wants to be paid like a top wide receiver. He will be highly motivated next season.

Role in the Slot

Cooper’s role will only increase in 2019 with the departure of longtime slot specialist Cole Beasley. Now a Buffalo Bill, Beasley had been a huge part of the Cowboys offense for years. In 2018, he had 65 catches for 672 yards, acting as quarterback Dak Prescot’s safety net in the middle of the field. With aging, recently un-retired Jason Witten as the only other real option in that area, Cooper will be looked at to pick up the slack there.

Luckily, one aspect of Cooper’s game that has been grossly underutilized for most of his career is putting him in the slot. Cooper came into the league as one of the more polished runners and is adept at putting up yards after the catch. Last season, he only ran about 12% of his routes from the slot, but the world saw some of the damage he could do during the playoffs against the Los Angeles Rams:

AMARI COOPER HOUSE CALL! ?

?: FOX #DALvsLARpic.twitter.com/hnmSIeobZW

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 13, 2019

During his time in Oakland, the Raiders started to learn of how dangerous Cooper could be from the slot. Halfway through the 2017 season, Cooper led all wide receivers in yards-per-route from the slot. And if teams start trying to shut him down in the middle of the field, he can always move back outside and turn on the jets to burn defenders with his speed.

Good matchups

In Oakland, Cooper faced top cornerbacks multiple times a year. There was the “No Fly Zone” in Denver with Aqib Talib and Chris Harris. The Los Angeles Chargers boast the underrated Casey Hayward. He dealt with a good Marcus Peters twice a year against the Kansas City Chiefs. Talib and Peters have regressed in recent years but were at the top of their game when Cooper was in Oakland.

The NFC East is a lot weaker in terms of cornerbacks, so Cooper should be able to take advantage of better matchups. Josh Norman of the Washington Redskins will be his biggest adversary, but Cooper’s second-best game of the year came against the Redskins. He burned them for 180 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches.

After that, Cooper doesn’t face any real formidable secondaries until weeks nine and ten. Xavier Rhodes of the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions corner Darius Slay might give him issues, but it is nothing he can’t handle. The Buffalo Bills rising star Tre’Davious White will be a challenge, and perhaps Chicago Bears top dog Kyle Fuller. Still, overall it should be one of the easier schedules Cooper has had in his career for secondary matchups.

Last Word on Amari Cooper’s 2019 Outlook

The future looks bright for former Oakland Raiders first-round pick Amari Cooper. Ever since he was drafted, Cooper has shown that he has all the tools to be one of the top wide receivers in the NFL. However, inconsistency has been his biggest downfall. Cooper can put up over 100 yards one week, and then a complete dud the next. However, it looks like the Dallas Cowboys are quickly learning how to play to his strengths, getting him involved in their offense early and often. With Beasley moving on to the Buffalo Bills, the Cowboys will have to come up with creative ways to use Cooper both outside and in the slot.

This could be the breakout year Cooper truthers have been predicting for a while.

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