The Raiders have made their feelings clear on Amari Cooper.
The team on Monday exercised the fifth-year option on their lead wideout, putting to bed a brief rash of hemming and hawing over Cooper's future in Oakland. The option is set to be worth roughly $13.9 million.
"I don't want to put anything out there, don't want to put the cart before the horse so to speak," Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said earlier this month about Cooper's option, per Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "But we like Amari."
Cooper possesses star traits, but hurt his stock last season with the third-most drops in the NFL. The entire Raiders offense struggled, though, leaving new coach Jon Gruden undeterred in his belief that Cooper will rise in the new scheme.
"We think Cooper is going to be a great player," Gruden told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. "He'll be the focal point of our offense ... the headliner in our offense."
Cooper burned bright over his first two seasons before falling off a cliff last year in terms of receptions (from 83 to 48), catching percentage (from 62.9 to 50.0) and yards (from 1,153 to 680) from 2016. Injuries and a disorganized offensive approach both played a part in the wideout's struggles.
The Raiders could have gotten overly cute here, but the chance of that was always remote. A logical candidate for a bounce-back campaign, Cooper remains a key building block by The Bay.
