Amari Cooper Traded to Buffalo Bills from Cleveland Browns
The Buffalo Bills announced on October 15 that they had finalized a deal to trade their 2025 third-round pick and 2026 seventh-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for Cleveland’s 2025 sixth-round pick and five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper.
Back in March, Cleveland converted $18.79 million of Cooper’s $20 million base salary for this season into a signing bonus, according to the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, meaning Buffalo will only have to pay a little over $806,000 to acquire the former number four overall pick.
The move comes just hours after the New York Jets acquired former All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders.
We've agreed to trade for WR Amari Cooper‼️https://t.co/Ilbmxum2sf | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/HUdMM3SaUM
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 15, 2024
Does this trade put the Bills over the top?
The Bills needed some extra firepower at the receiver position since the team ranks 24th in receiving yards and 29th in receptions through the first six weeks of this season. Cooper will give that offense a much-needed boost. With a 38-year-old Joe Flacco, Cooper made the Pro Bowl last season after recording 72 catches for 1250 receiving yards and five touchdowns. With an MVP-caliber quarterback like Josh Allen throwing him the ball, Cooper should be able to return to his Pro Bowl form after spending the first six games of the year with the laughably bad Deshaun Watson.
This move makes a ton of sense after the Jets traded for Davante Adams. Now that Buffalo has a significant lead over the Jets and Dolphins, they need to keep up their pace to remain the top dog in the AFC East. Adding a deep-threat playmaker like Cooper to the roster will help them do just that.
It’s unclear how impactful Cooper will be come playoff time, but it’ll be hard for him to be as disappointing as Stefon Diggs was last year. During Buffalo’s 2024 playoff run, Diggs was held to just 10 catches for 73 yards and zero touchdowns in the two games he played. So, Cooper has to average five catches and 37 yards a game in the postseason in order to be a better target than Stefon Diggs was last year. That should be easy for a guy who averages 12.2 yards per reception in his playoff career.
The Browns are clearly giving up
This trade shows that Cleveland is giving up on this season and trying to collect assets as they prepare for a post-Deshaun Watson future. Teams rarely trade away their best wide receiver when things are going well. With a 1-5 record, it looks like the Browns are going to bite the bullet on the 2024 season and embrace the tank. That seems like the only justified reason to continue starting Deshaun Watson.
The Browns are not going to have much to work with in terms of cap space for the next few years, so they are going to have to do their rebuilding through the draft. Since no team would ever be dumb enough to take on Watson’s insane contract, the Browns are being forced to auction off some of their more attractive players in order to stockpile draft picks for 2025 and 2026.
There are several other players still on the roster that Cleveland could move on from. Guys like Za’Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson, Jedrick Wills Jr., and Denzel Ward could also be future trade candidates if the Browns are serious about tanking.
