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Despite significant injury, Amari Cooper excelled for the Raiders as a rookie
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Former Alabama receiver Amari Cooper got off to such a fantastic start to his first year in the NFL before appearing to hit the proverbial rookie wall to finish the season. Despite failing to have over 20 yards receiving in three of his final four games, the Raiders rookie still managed a very respectable 72 catch, 1,070 yards and six touchdown rookie campaign.
Now heading into his second season with Oakland, Cooper is fully recovered from a foot injury that plagued his first NFL season. In fact, Cooper recently said on KGMZ in San Francisco he hasn’t even watched his film from last season, due to the injury not representing who he is on the field.
“I think it affected everything. Me being a receiver, it affected my whole game,” Cooper explained, via NFL.com. “Talk about a foot injury, you can’t release how you want to, you can’t come out of your breaks how you want to. You can only get open in two ways, off of the line or out of your breaks. So it really affected my game, but I was mentally tough and I fought through it.”
Thanks to a core of young talent that of course includes Cooper, quarterback Derek Carr and outside linebacker/defensive end Khalil Mack, the Raiders are being projected by many as a darkhorse playoff contender this season. If Cooper’s game continues to excel and the receiver is injury-free, expect the second-year Raider to put up some ridiculous numbers in Oakland as his team marches all the way to its first playoff birth in 14 years.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
