Amari Cooper first propelled himself to the forefront of the football world as a wide receiver at the University of Alabama, catching 228 passes for 3,463 yards and 31 touchdowns throughout his three-year stint in Tuscaloosa. He established himself as one of the best pass-catchers in the nation throughout his time with the Crimson Tide, winning a National Championship as he constructed a résumé that ultimately led to him being selected with the fourth-overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
All of Cooper’s collegiate success came under the watch of Nick Saban, a seven-time National Championship-winning head coach who is universally regarded as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport. The two forged a strong relationship throughout Cooper’s time in college, with the receiver referring to the sideline boss as a “father figure” after Saban retired earlier this year.
And Cooper, like Saban post-retirement, now finds himself embarking on new beginnings, as he’s recently been traded from the Cleveland Browns to the Buffalo Bills. It’s a massive shift for Cooper not in terms of geography (Cleveland is fewer than 200 miles from Orchard Park), but from the perspective of immediate ambitions; previously stuck on a lifeless Browns offense helmed by the abominable offensive coordinator/quarterback duo of Ken Dorsey and Deshaun Watson, Cooper now finds himself atop the depth chart in a Buffalo offense led by one of the league’s most dynamic players in quarterback Josh Allen.
It’s an incredible opportunity for the five-time Pro Bowler, who has been one of the NFL’s most consistently productive receivers over the past decade. His former head coach shares this sentiment, as Saban glowed over Cooper and the type of player and person he is during a Friday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
“I think Amari Cooper is a great player, and I think he’ll make a huge impact with the Bills, who have a good offensive team, good quarterback, and all that,” Saban stated. “I think that Amari Cooper, sometimes, is a little bit misunderstood because he’s such a quiet guy. He went through three or four years at Alabama, however long he was there, and I don’t know if we ever had a conversation. He was never in trouble. He never came in my office, he did everything he was supposed to do. He’s a great person. Went to class. Did everything you asked, practiced hard, did everything, but never said a word.
“Sometimes as a coach, you feel like, ‘Well, this guy’s not really with it,’ or ‘he’s not really with us.’ But he is. He’s a great competitor, he made a lot of plays that made huge impacts in games. I think he has the capability of doing that, so I think when you have a player like that sometimes in your organization or as a coach, you think this guy’s not really competing, or he’s really not the kind of guy that is engaged with the team. But he really is in his own way, he’s just a very shy personality.”
Cooper’s quiet nature has been oft-discussed since his arrival in Buffalo, as it looks as though he’ll be a seamless fit in a Bills offense that, though projected to lean on the 30-year-old, still aims to spread the ball around. Saban noted that the reserved demeanor is admirable of a player at any position, but it’s a bit more valuable at wideout.
“Especially at wide receiver,” Saban said. “You talk about energy vampires, they go crazy at that position. They all want the ball, they don’t want to block.”
A player who has topped 1,000 receiving yards in all but two of his previous nine professional seasons, it looks as though Cooper is set to feast when paired with Allen, a signal-caller who has a history of getting the absolute most out of his pass-catchers. Allen has played with a lot of talented wideouts throughout his career, but Cooper perhaps immediately slots into the upper echelon; Saban has been around far more elite talent than the Buffalo quarterback throughout his historic career, but if he were starting a team from scratch, he’d want the newest Bills’ receiver at his disposal.
“I love the guy,” Saban said. “If I was coaching a team, I’d want him on my team.”
