Amari Cooper informs Raiders he will retire a week and a half after he signed with the team: Reports

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/breaking-news/article/amari-cooper-informs-raiders-he-will-retire-a-week-and-a-half-after-he-signed-with-the-team-reports-181308372.html

Amari Cooper won’t be finishing his NFL career playing for the team that drafted him, after all. The 31-year-old wide receiver, who signed with the Raiders at the end of training camp, told the team that he no longer has the desire to play and will instead retire, according to multiple reports.

The Raiders took Cooper No. 4 overall in the 2015 draft. The five-time Pro Bowl wideout spent his first three-plus seasons in the league in Oakland.

He was traded to the Dallas Cowboys during the 2018 season, less than two years before the Raiders’ 2020 move to Las Vegas.

Cooper, a Biletnikoff Award winner at Alabama, notched seven 1,000-yard receiving seasons as a pro. After his three seasons and change in Dallas, he spent two-plus seasons with the Cleveland Browns before being shipped off to the Buffalo Bills, with whom he finished out the 2024 campaign.

News of Cooper signing a one-year deal with the Raiders surfaced on Aug. 25, the same day Vegas’ top wide receiver, Jakobi Meyers, reportedly requested a trade. The Raiders haven’t honored that request, and Meyers is still waiting for a new deal that he had been pushing for this offseason.

Meyers is the Raiders’ current WR1. Cooper used to occupy that role. He led the team in receiving yards his first two years in the league, the second of which saw him tally 83 receptions for 1,153 yards and 5 touchdowns while the Raiders went 12-4 and made the playoffs for the first time since their runner-up finish during the 2002 season.

Cooper made 47 total starts in black and silver, piling up 225 catches, 3,183 receiving yards and 19 touchdown receptions in the process.

Three of the four seasons he played in Dallas, he eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark. He reeled in a career-high 92 passes in the 2020 season, starring opposite of a young CeeDee Lamb.

The Cowboys traded Cooper to the Browns ahead of the 2022 season, during which Cooper set a career high with nine touchdown grabs. In 2023, he made his fifth Pro Bowl at 29 years old, collecting 72 catches and a career-high 1,250 receiving yards — including 265 yards in a Week 16 game against the Houston Texans — helping unsung hero Joe Flacco win Comeback Player of the Year and the Browns return to the playoffs with an 11-6 record.

But the Browns sent Cooper to Buffalo midseason last year, and he struggled to make an impact for a Bills squad that valued him enough to give up third- and seventh-round picks (they did receive a sixth-round selection in the trade, though).

Granted Cooper was dealing with a wrist injury last season, but he combined for just 338 receiving yards across 11 total games with the Bills: eight regular-season matchups and three playoff contests.

Last week, Cooper called returning to the Raiders “a full circle moment.”

That moment, however, was short-lived.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/breaking-news/article/amari-cooper-informs-raiders-he-will-retire-a-week-and-a-half-after-he-signed-with-the-team-reports-181308372.html