Vox Talks: Amari Cooper

Matt Price

Welcome back to another edition of Vox Talks; the series that peels back the curtain on the private DLF writer Voxer chat.

After a third straight disappointing week from Amari Cooper, many dynasty owners are getting nervous about his long-term value. Week one of his third season was a rollercoaster. Cooper was targeted 13 times but caught only five of them for 62 yards. One of them was an impressive touchdown where he caught the ball short of the goal line but dragged several defenders into the end zone with him. The touchdown and usage in the red zone was a welcome sight after news of Cooper adding muscle in the off-season to be more physical in scoring situations. Later in the game in another short area scoring situation, Derek Carr targeted Cooper on three straight plays. All three should have been touchdowns and all three were dropped.

Despite a decent fantasy day, the performance left dynasty owners with a bad taste in their mouths and wondering what could have been. My first reaction after those three straight drops was that they won’t be going back to him in those situations again anytime soon. In week three he caught one pass for six yards on five targets and in week four he caught just two passes for nine yards on eight targets against a tough Denver pass defense without Michael Crabtree in the lineup.

In the previous 12 months, Cooper’s lowest ADP was 9.33 last September with a peak of 3.25 overall in December. After two 1,000 yard seasons to open his career we felt great about Cooper as a long-term asset, but a third of the way through 2017 fantasy regular season, some dynasty owners are beginning to panic. I took to the DLF voxer thread to take our writers’ temperature on Cooper and what their plans are with this once highly coveted dynasty asset. What follows is their take on the situation.

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Jeff Miller

If I owned him and wanted to sell, I would be worried. But where I do own him, I am fine. I have always looked at him as an eventual long-term low-end WR1/high-end WR2. I had him ranked much higher because of the expected high floor and the potential he could be more than I thought. So even though this season hasn’t been ideal, his historic pace over his first two years plus what I saw coming into the league is more than enough for me to brush off such a small sample this season.

Tom Kislingbury

I’m not concerned and I think he’ll bounce back, but the periods of low production in his history does give me pause. Obviously, his low periods have been more than balanced by his excellence in other times but on a couple of teams, I see him as my WR3/4. If I can get a good price for Cooper in that situation I’ll absolutely move him to someone who is less frustrated.

Jeff Haverlack

I’m an owner in multiple leagues and have no long-term fear. His skills are unquestioned, similar to Hopkins last year. I would be buying if the price was right.

Brian Malone

Talent + volume = points. Cooper’s still getting chances, and we’ve seen enough to know he’s good. Still, this has the potential to be a disaster season for Oakland. So I’m moderately worried but nevertheless buying — indeed, I traded for him today.

Ryan Finley

Maybe I’m alone, but I am concerned about Cooper longer term. Since Cooper came into the league, he has been valued as a top five to ten wide receiver. I’m not as sure as others that he has the kind of high upside I like to see in a receiver with his price tag. He is still very young, but he has also shown these dips in production before. Am I worried he will bust? Absolutely not. But I am worried that his true value may be as a really strong WR2 rather than a WR1. Did Cooper’s current owners pay for that? I don’t think so. I would certainly entertain offers from those who still believe in Cooper as a future stud.

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matt price