Amari Cooper traded to Buffalo: The Dynasty Fantasy Football Impact
Well, I guess it’s trade season!?! On the same morning Davante Adams was traded to the Jets, the second major wide receiver move has been made as the Cleveland Browns just traded Amari Cooper to the Buffalo Bills. It’s a surprising move to some, but Cooper never really did seem to fit the long-term vision of Cleveland and with their season spiraling out of control, they may have been wise to cash out. The move is significant in dynasty leagues, so let’s re-assess the players whose values have been impacted.
Amari Cooper, WR BUF
The 30-year old Cooper has a grand total of 691 catches, 9,736 yards and 62 touchdowns over his 146 career games played in the NFL with the Raiders, Cowboys, and Browns. While he’s unlikely to be a Hall of Fame player when all is said and done, he’s #63 all-time in receiving yards and should climb to within the top-50 by the end of the season. In short, he’s been a very solid fantasy performer throughout his career, with some elite-level stretches mixed in.
The challenge with Cooper has always been consistency. He has a knack for posting giant games (he had a monster 11/265/2 game late last year) and some serious clunkers. The good news is Josh Allen is a monster upgrade from Deshaun Watson and Cooper is going into a situation where he should again be counted on to be the top pass catcher on his team. Cooper was a spotty lineup consideration this year but this trade is going to make him a likely weekly staple. He’ll be a free agent at the end of the season, but this could be the start of something special to end his career, so Buffalo could very well re-sign him.
Regardless, this is a positive development for Cooper, who immediately becomes a great veteran addition to any dynasty roster, and one you can likely get without giving up major draft capital like a future first round pick. It seems fair to think he could be plucked from a non-contender for a second rounder and a developmental prospect at this point. It might take you a late first, but I certainly wouldn’t offer that to start with. Just keep in mind, he’s going to have big games that win you some weeks and terrible ones that can lose them for you – I can’t imagine that changes as it simply never has.
Khalil Shakir, WR BUF
The Bills lost Stefon Diggs this off-season and tried to make this whole thing work with a committee of players and Shakir as the de facto WR1. In the end, that just didn’t pan out as Shakir has proven to be a solid receiver, but not one who can be relied on to be a Batman instead of a Robin. Shakir’s 20/249/2 line is admirable, but he had yet to post a game with more than 72 yards and never had more than six targets in a game. He could carve out some value moving forward, but the arrival of Cooper makes him a tough play in dynasty leagues moving forward.
Keon Coleman, WR BUF
The Bills are going to be patient with Coleman moving forward and they really have to be as he’s proven he’s not quite ready for prime time as his 12 catches, 201 yards and two scores through six games tend to indicate. The addition of Cooper really doesn’t affect his long-term value much, if at all. Coleman still looks like a solid late first round rookie pick this year and if his dynasty manager believes this is somehow an indictment on him, it would be time to float some offers. In short, his short-term value could be capped, but anyone with Coleman was playing the long game anyway.
Dalton Kincaid, TE BUF
We keep waiting for this massive Dalton Kincaid breakout season to happen, but it just hasn’t yet. At this point, he’s on pace for 60 catches, 622 yards and a couple of touchdowns. That’s fine for a TE1/2 but nothing that looks remotely close to an elite-level option. The addition of Cooper may not be great for him short-term, but anyone concerned about Kincaid was likely already worrying.
Other Bills Receivers
It’s hard to see much value in the likes of Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins, Dawson Knox or Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Hollins has had some moments, but the others just haven’t done much. Samuel has been an utter disappointment after posting some decent seasons in Washington. At this point, this looks like a massive group of roster cloggers. To make matters more interesting, MVS was cut later in the day.
Josh Allen, QB BUF
Allen has posted a few bad games this year, but you have to applaud his effort in trying to make this work without a lot of talent around him. In fact, you could make the case the Bills had the worst receiving corps in the league. Cooper is going to help him out a bit, but it’s not like you were benching Allen on a weekly basis anyway. He could easily end as the overall QB1 when this thing is all said and done.
Deshaun Watson, QB CLE
This may soon be more about Jameis Winston than Watson, who has been an abject disaster for the Browns. To me, this spells imminent doom for Watson. If the Browns really believed he had the ability to turn this around, it’s doubtful they’d ship out their best receiver. By taking away his best weapon, they may be waving the white flag here. While they won’t likely say anything publicly to give this any validity, it’s hard to believe they still have faith in Watson after moving on from Cooper and Winston is ready and waiting. This franchise looks like one needing a massive reboot, but also one that’s going to need to swallow nearly $100 million more in guaranteed money they owe Watson. His dynasty value is near zero and this won’t help.
Jerry Jeudy, WR CLE
If there’s a winner in Cleveland, it’s likely Jeudy. His 20/248/1 stat line isn’t exactly jumping off the page, but he’s surely going to see an uptick in targets with Cooper in Buffalo. While he has been a pretty big disappointment throughout his career, this could be a real chance for him to turn things around as he gets more opportunities.
Elijah Moore, WR CLE
Moore has been the forgotten man in Cleveland this season, but much like Jeudy, this could represent a little bit of a boost. Realistically, both Jeudy and Moore are likely going to need to see Watson benched to really blossom, but Moore was blocked by Cooper and a total afterthought, as his 16/95/0 line indicates. This should at least give him some more opportunities.
Other Browns Receivers
This consists of players like Cedric Tillman, Jamari Thrash. These two (and some others) could get some more time moving forward, so it’s at least worth monitoring as we move forward.
David Njoku, TE CLE
The other winner in this deal could be Njoku, but the way the Browns offense has been going, it’s hard to trust anyone. Still, Cleveland needs people to catch the ball and Njoku is as good a bet as anyone moving forward.
Nick Chubb, RB CLE
Are they really going to run him into the ground in a lost season? I find myself a little concerned here. If the coaching staff feels like they’re on the hot seat, they’ll do just that. However, if they don’t, he may be really eased into this thing. Regardless, let’s just hope he comes back looking close to his old form.
Mike Williams, WR NYJ
I guess you can take Buffalo on the list of teams who could be interested.
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
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