The Amari Cooper Thread

macbdog said:
I think the trade and contract for Jeudy certainly hint at Cooper not being extended. I guess it comes down to whether they can find common ground. I get why Amare wants an extension but I'm big on you honor your contract. Maybe he feels the possibility of another QB clusterfuck(if Deshaun doesn't bounce back/is DLed again) could kill his value heading into FA?
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Cooper will be 31 when this contract ends, not sure how much you commit to a 31 year old wr, even a good one.
 
Lee said:
Cooper will be 31 when this contract ends, not sure how much you commit to a 31 year old wr, even a good one.
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I don’t think you can commit much to him given we just extended Jeudy, may need to sign Moore, and have used several picks on WRs recently.

If the Browns are paying a WR it needs to be a young guy like Aiyuk or a player just entering his prime like the Amari trade with Dallas. Otherwise, they need to focus on landing a stud in the draft.

The Browns just can’t spend top level money on a WR with the other guys they’re playing on the roster. I’d fully expect WR, EDGE, and RB to be our day 1&2 picks next year.
 
natedagg said:
Wait why can’t they?
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Technically they can, but he's holding out for an extension because he wants longer term security. They seem to want to give that to him, just not for as many years or as many dollars as he'd like. I don't think the Browns want to force him to play out his contract - I think they'd prefer to sign him to a smaller and shorter contract than he's looking for as their top choice, and trading him if he won't agree to it being their second preference.
 
Thelastcavsfan said:
I assume he’ll request a trade before he plays this season for browns without a new contract.
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The Browns don’t have to honor a trade request though.

At the end of the day, the Browns have the leverage.

Yes, Cooper *could* sit out, but he would not get paid at all if he did and his contract wouldn’t toll.

Or he could just play out the season, get paid $20 million and then hit free agency.

There’s no tangible benefit to a full season sit out from Cooper’s perspective, especially this close to free agency.
 
CBBI said:
The Browns don’t have to honor a trade request though.

At the end of the day, the Browns have the leverage.

Yes, Cooper *could* sit out, but he would not get paid at all if he did and his contract wouldn’t toll.

Or he could just play out the season, get paid $20 million and then hit free agency.

There’s no tangible benefit to a full season sit out from Cooper’s perspective, especially this close to free agency.
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I get that. But then it would look bad from a players perspective to do that to aguy like Amari. But I hope the browns aren’t in the sympathy business and do what’s best for the team.
 
CBBI said:
The Browns don’t have to honor a trade request though.

At the end of the day, the Browns have the leverage.

Yes, Cooper *could* sit out, but he would not get paid at all if he did and his contract wouldn’t toll.

Or he could just play out the season, get paid $20 million and then hit free agency.

There’s no tangible benefit to a full season sit out from Cooper’s perspective, especially this close to free agency.
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Bingo. The holes I am missing are:
Do we get some sort of comp pick (last of 3rd round) if he signs elsewhere after the contract?

What would reasonable comp be should we be forced to move him now? I am assuming the trade partner would only trade for him with a verbal extension in mind, and for a number that we are not willing to pay.

Of course, we could extend him, and that would come at the expense of moving on from other talent at some point. I mean obviously if you knew his production would be top tier for 3 more years, you do it; but the reality is not that clear. The 10th highest paid WR is DK Metcalf at $24M/yr. I would think that history favors the younger player going forward, but contracts keep going up so… are we looking at $24M/yr on average? He is already our 4th most expensive player, and that extension would be at 2/26 to get to 3/$24.

I don’t pay enough attention to cap increases and TV deals, nor receiver performance after age 30. These are just things that cross my mind as an armchair GM.

Everyone opine!
 
natedagg said:
He is already our 4th most expensive player, and that extension would be at 2/26 to get to 3/$24.

I don’t pay enough attention to cap increases and TV deals, nor receiver performance after age 30. These are just things that cross my mind as an armchair GM.

Everyone opine!
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The rest of your post was great, but this is definitely the key part.

A 30+ year old WR can’t be one of the top 5 most expensive players on a true competitor unless he’s at worst a top 8 WR.

Ward’s extension kicks in after this year. JOK and Emerson are going to need new contracts. Njoku is going to be up for re-negotiation / a new deal after this year.

Also, Wills is going to need to get extended or the Browns need another LT, either of which is going to be costly. Moore will need to be signed. I don’t anticipate the team spending a bunch of money on a new RB, but they might opt to sign or trade for a guy depending on what the draft looks like and how Chubb bounces back.

Outside of just those guys, there’s a bunch of money that’s going to need to go around the next couple years in order to keep several key pieces around at more important positions. Cooper’s value as a vet is tough to measure, but he’s definitely at an age where his production could fall off a cliff.
 
Bob_The_Cat said:
The rest of your post was great, but this is definitely the key part.

A 30+ year old WR can’t be one of the top 5 most expensive players on a true competitor unless he’s at worst a top 8 WR.

Ward’s extension kicks in after this year. JOK and Emerson are going to need new contracts. Njoku is going to be up for re-negotiation / a new deal after this year.

Also, Wills is going to need to get extended or the Browns need another LT, either of which is going to be costly. Moore will need to be signed. I don’t anticipate the team spending a bunch of money on a new RB, but they might opt to sign or trade for a guy depending on what the draft looks like and how Chubb bounces back.

Outside of just those guys, there’s a bunch of money that’s going to need to go around the next couple years in order to keep several key pieces around at more important positions. Cooper’s value as a vet is tough to measure, but he’s definitely at an age where his production could fall off a cliff.
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My thing is I really want him to play it out bc I want to see this offense w his talent out there, but also I want him to mentor Jeudy and sort of catalyze his growth (and Jeudy won’t have to worry about touches bc he just extended). I guess mentor more than just Jeudy.

My gut is that they will gauge if Cooper will play it out and play it out hard, and if he will opt to sit out, they will send a message to the locker room that it will not be tolerated and trade him after a couple of games if it comes to that (which I don’t think it will).
 
natedagg said:
My thing is I really want him to play it out bc I want to see this offense w his talent out there, but also I want him to mentor Jeudy and sort of catalyze his growth (and Jeudy won’t have to worry about touches bc he just extended). I guess mentor more than just Jeudy.

My gut is that they will gauge if Cooper will play it out and play it out hard, and if he will opt to sit out, they will send a message to the locker room that it will not be tolerated and trade him after a couple of games if it comes to that (which I don’t think it will).
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Trading him, to me, would be worst case scenario. His value to the Browns is much greater than what he would bring back in a trade. We'd basically be looking at a similar package to what we gave Dallas (a 5th and a 6th round swap if I remember correctly) because he's on the last year of his deal looking to get another contract.

I'd be ok paying him this year and next year, but after that I don't want to be on the hook for any guaranteed money. Not sure how Coop would feel about it. Might be a sticking point for each side.

I trust that if there is a reasonable offer to be made, Berry will figure it out.
 
Even a one year extension worth $22-23m for '25 w/ a partial guarantee (say $6-8m) and throw in a extra couple of million for '24 should make both sides happy. It would protect Amari from injury risk this year, guarantee Amari an extra $8-10m over his current contract and give the Browns an extra year to develop and sort the WR room. If a WR is drafted top 50 in the '25 draft that would give a year for Amari to tutor the rookie.
 
southernflyer said:
Even a one year extension worth $22-23m for '25 w/ a partial guarantee (say $6-8m) and throw in a extra couple of million for '24 should make both sides happy. It would protect Amari from injury risk this year, guarantee Amari an extra $8-10m over his current contract and give the Browns an extra year to develop and sort the WR room. If a WR is drafted top 50 in the '25 draft that would give a year for Amari to tutor the rookie.
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I don’t think Cooper is making a fuss about a 1 year extension. This is an interesting case bc the messaging around the Jeudy contract wasn’t 1A money, and is Jeudy even capable of 1A receiver play?

Yeah hopefully they can do some sort of compromise, I am just saying I don’t think AB will end up getting fleeced on some aging WR. I mean ideally long-term you get Coop to gracefully age into the number 2 WR role because with his footwork he can probably stay productive (and a great teammate) for a long time, we just have to make sure that we aren’t paying him #1 money if/when that situation occurs.
 
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