ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Alone behind the wheel of his car, with his phone buzzing from texts and missed calls, a calm came over Amari Cooper as the Cleveland skyline faded in the review mirror, and the closer the wide receiver came to arriving at his new home: Buffalo.
A trip that generally takes no more than three hours along I-90, seemed longer for Cooper in having gathered his belongings and thoughts, while looking forward to the opportunities ahead after the Browns traded him to the Bills.
“It kind of felt like a long drive to my first day of school. So, yeah, it was a lot to think about,” Cooper said following practice Wednesday, a day after being traded.
“I was really just trying to take it all in and just trying to think about this situation,” he added. “It did kind of reinvigorate me and motivated me for sure. So it was just a very introspective drive.”
Within the span of 24 hours and a trip along the shores of Lake Erie, Cooper went from playing for an unproductive offense on a Browns team that, at 1-5, had lost four straight and tumbling out of contention, to joining the four-time defending AFC East champion Bills (4-2) and the chance to play with Josh Allen.
“I don’t know him personally,” Cooper said of the seventh-year starter. “But as far as the way he plays, it’s phenomenal every time I turn on the television.”
At 30, Cooper is a five-time Pro Bowler, who has topped 1,000 yards in seven of his nine previous seasons, including a career-best 1,250 last year. In Buffalo, he provides Allen an established threat in filling a role the team's patchwork receiver group had been missing since Stefon Diggs was traded to Houston in April.
With 24 catches and 250 yards, and despite numerous uncharacteristic drops, Cooper becomes Buffalo’s leading receiver in having 1 more yard and four more catches than Khalil Shakir.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane dismissed the notion of the trade being prompted by his receivers struggling to produce in what was being called an “Everybody Eats” spread-the-ball system.
And yet, Beane revealed spending the past few weeks targeting a receiver. He said he went “all-in” on Cooper on Sunday, once it became clear the Raiders were trading Davante Adams to the New York Jets, with both deals completed within hours of each other.
Allen had no reservations answering a question about how Cooper’s addition has the potential to change the “Everybody Eats” dynamic.
“I think it’s going to help us regardless, because defenses obviously know who he is,” Allen said. “I’m still just trying to throw it to the open guy, but I think having a type of guy like him, who’s done it consistently over the course of his career, and done it a high level, is going to help everybody in this building.”
The trade comes as Buffalo ranks 25th in the NFL in yards passing; rookie running back Ray Davis, with 55 yards, was Buffalo’s leading receiver in a 23-20 win over the New York Jets on Monday; and Allen has failed to top 200 yards passing three times.
The question is how quickly it will take Cooper to get up to speed in Buffalo’s offense.
Coach Sean McDermott wouldn’t even commit to saying whether Cooper will be active on Sunday when the Bills host Tennessee. One benefit to making the move in mid-October, the coach said, is providing Cooper a few extra weeks to get acclimated as opposed to if Buffalo acquired him at the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 5.
What helps, too, is Cooper having previously played for Bills receivers coach Adam Henry, who held the same role when the two were in Dallas in 2020 and ’21.
Cooper called Henry one of the few former coaches he’s kept in touch with, and looked forward to being reunited.
As for setting any expectations for Sunday, Cooper called it premature.
“I just got here, you know what I mean,” Cooper said. “If I had to answer the question, the expectation would be to take full advantage of my opportunities. That’s it.”
In Cleveland, Cooper was being missed by his former teammates and coaches.
“You got to trust the organization and what AB and Kevin and those guys upstairs have planned,” quarterback Deshaun Watson said, referring to general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski. “But at the same time, we’re definitely going to miss him, and we appreciate everything he brought for this team and this organization.”
Now on his fourth team, Cooper is no stranger to being traded midseason, as happened in 2018 when the Oakland Raiders dealt him to Dallas. On Wednesday, he was more focused on looking ahead with a “just be where your feet are,” approach.
“You can look back at the past, but only to learn from it,” Cooper said. “We weren’t having the best season over there in Cleveland, but the season is long. But obviously I’m not there anymore. ... So I can only go from here.”
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AP Sports Writer Tom Withers in Cleveland contributed.
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John Wawrow, The Associated Press
