The first wide receiver taken in the 2015 NFL Draft was Amari Cooper from Alabama who went to the Oakland Raiders with the fourth overall pick. What can we expect from Cooper this season? How good can he be in terms of fantasy football and how high should he be take in fantasy football drafts?
Cooper Dominated at Alabama
No one is sure of exactly how well Cooper will do with the Oakland Raiders but we do know he dominated at Alabama. Cooper was the top target of A.J. McCarron in 2013 and he was the top target for Blake Sims last year. He played all over the field with the Crimson Tide in various formations and he played for an offensive coordinator in Lane Kiffin who has coached in the NFL. It is fair to make comparisons with Cooper to Julio Jones who dominated with Alabama before going to the NFL. What Cooper doesn’t have that Jones has is size but Cooper may have more speed. The only negative that can be found with Cooper in his time at Alabama is that he did drop about 11% of the passes thrown his way. But considering how often he was targeted, the drop rate does not seem that concerning.
Amari Cooper Draft Value
Cooper is being compared to Roddy White and Reggie Wayne, which is high praise. Cooper has a couple of things going for him as he has a strong armed quarterback in Derek Carr and he is the clear number one receiver in Oakland. The Raiders released James Jones who was their top receiver and the only other receiver of note on the team is Michael Crabtree and he has never proven he can be a No. 1 receiver. The concern if you are going to take Cooper is that Carr isn’t a great fantasy quarterback. The Raiders have not been excellent on offense in a long time and while Carr showed signs of being very good a year ago, he is still only in his second season.
Cooper’s Fantasy Football Ranking
The biggest question with Cooper is where to take him in your 2015 fantasy football draft. Many people are going to overreact to last year’s great season for rookie wide receivers and take Cooper higher than he really should go. In most seasons, rookie wide receivers struggle to get into the WR3 category. Last year was an exception with Odell Beckham Jr., Mike Evans, Kelvin Benjamin and Sammy Watkins having great seasons.
If things get back to normal then Cooper is probably a WR3 which means he should be ranked in the 30s in terms of wide receivers. That puts him with players like Larry Fitzergald, Jeremy Maclin, Eric Decker and Torrey Smith. I think Cooper can be better than those receivers so I would rank him as a low end wide WR2 which would mean he would be comparable to receivers like Andre Johnson, Jordan Matthews, Vincent Jackson and Brandon Marshall.
