Amari Cooper explains how he learned to ‘play hurt’ while at Alabama

Amari Cooper has gone on from being a star at Alabama to being a star in the NFL ranks.

But, that didn’t come easily for the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver. He has had to learn how to play when he isn’t feeling 100% healthy.

Per Cowboys insider Calvin Watkins, learning to play hurt was something Cooper learned how to do at Alabama. Per Cooper, Nick Saban kept putting another guy ahead of Cooper if Cooper wasn’t consistently able to take the field:

Amari Cooper said he learned to play hurt at Alabama: “Saban, he put another guy in front of me cause I kind of kept taking myself out the game and it just messed up the continuity of everything so now I just I'd rather play hurt than to be switching with a guy in there.”

— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) September 25, 2021

Obviously, there are differences between playing hurt and playing injured, with the latter not being a good idea.

But, as the season wears on in football, no one is every truly 100% healthy. It’s a rough sport, and it sounds like Saban instilled that lesson in Cooper early on.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.