Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper isn’t breathlessly following the trade speculation surrounding him this season.
“No, I’m not aware of it, no,” Cooper said Thursday, via Cleveland.com. “Usually if I don’t have a good game, I try to stay off of social media. That’s one thing that I’ve learned, because I can be kind of sensitive about the way that I play, and just being on social media, there’s nothing about hiding that. So no, I haven’t seen any of it.”
If Cooper were on social media this week, he’d see his name repeatedly floated as a trade option for WR-needy clubs, including the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who put Rashee Rice on injured reserve due to a knee injury.
Cooper was reportedly part of a potential offseason trade with the San Francisco 49ers that ultimately went nowhere. Given that Cooper was on the block then, it follows the Browns would consider parting ways after a 1-3 start to the season.
Cooper was off social media this week because he had an admittedly poor outing in Week 4’s loss in Las Vegas. He caught four of eight targets for 35 yards, including a pass that bounded off his chest for an interception.
“Of course, I’d be lying if I say I wasn’t, so, yeah. I didn’t feel good about the way we performed, about the way I performed,” he said when asked if he was upset with his play. “So I think that’s an accurate way to describe it.”
Quarterback Deshaun Watson has taken heat after not hitting tight end Jordan Akins on a fourth-and-3 sack that ended the comeback bid, but Cooper took the blame for not making himself available on the play.
“First and foremost, I know I could have ran a better route,” he said. “I was actually the first read on that route. I didn’t like the leverage that the defensive back was giving me, and so I kind of chopped off the route and just prepared for a scramble drill when I should have probably just broke it off. So I say that to say there’s a lot of moving parts that outsiders don’t truly understand about the particulars of any given play. So yeah, we all could have done better on that play.”
Cooper and Watson’s chemistry has always seemed a tad off, but he has particularly struggled to open the season. In 11 Watson starts over the previous two seasons in which the QB threw more than five passes, Cooper generated 848 yards on 49 receptions with four touchdowns (77.09 YPG; 17.3 YPC). In four games in 2024, Cooper has 16 catches for 148 yards and two scores (37.0 YPG; 9.25 YPC).
With Cooper struggling as he plays out the final year of his contract and the Browns stacking losses, the receiver’s name will remain a trade candidate until the Nov. 5 deadline.