It was a busy day on the wide receiver news front Tuesday, sending fantasy football managers reeling as the Buffalo Bills made a splash move to acquire star WR Amari Cooper from the Cleveland Browns — just hours after news dropped that the Jets had acquired All-Pro Davante Adams.
It’s a fresh start for Cooper, who’s wasted away this year on a Browns offense going nowhere fast, while Bills QB Josh Allen gets another weapon following this offseason’s trade of Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans.
What’s it mean for your fantasy football teams? Let’s dive in.
Josh Allen’s floor as a passer rises
Though QB Josh Allen is the ultimate playmaker who has made the most of his versatile group of receivers, there’s little doubt that the addition of Cooper raises his floor as a passer significantly.
Through just six games this season, Allen already has as many finishes as QB19 or worse as he had all of last season, and it’s obvious that’s had a lot to do with limitations in the passing game. Through six weeks, Allen is on a 17-game pace for just 3,287 passing yards (28 TD, 0 INT) — with his passing yard and touchdown totals the lowest marks since his second NFL season, back in 2019. Adding Cooper into the offense will limit the playing time for Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling while providing rookie Keon Coleman some cushion lining up opposite him.
Amari Cooper may actually see some catchable targets
Cooper’s jump in value is another easy one to diagnose. Virtually any human being on the planet would be an upgrade for the quality of Cooper’s targets (including, probably, me); his 60% catchable target rate ranks in the 15th percentile for wide receivers this season, per PFF.
An upgrade to an MVP-caliber quarterback like Allen? Yeah, that’s huge.
Cooper is a seasoned pro’s pro who should acclimate to the Bills offense quickly enough. Though he’s in his age-30 season, Cooper is used to being a focal point of his respective offense. Expect Cooper to produce as a weekly WR2 with WR1 upside catching balls from a technician like Allen, who’s not afraid to sling “YOLO” balls up for his top receiver even once the play breaks down.
As for the other Bills pass catchers, continue to fire up Khalil Shakir as a flex (who may actually benefit from the defensive attention Cooper garners) and Dalton Kincaid as a mid-range TE1, having had 5+ targets in each of his last four games. There should still be enough targets to go around, though Cooper’s addition makes that target volume a bit more volatile than it’s been through the first six weeks of the season.
David Njoku wins for the Browns … kind of
I feel obligated to mention a winner for the Browns solely because Cooper’s departure will leave some targets up for grabs.
The problem? Those targets are coming from QB Deshaun Watson, who, for some unknown reason, has yet to be benched despite ranking dead last in the league with 5.1 yards per pass attempt, ranking top five in uncatchable pass rate (22.2%) and leading the league in sacks with 31 sacks taken. Ouchie.
Expect offseason acquisition Jerry Jeudy to lead the teams in snaps along the perimeter as the new “WR1,” while second-year WR Cedric Tillman could see an increase in snaps, though he hasn’t been efficient with the opportunities he’s received thus far. Elijah Moore should see his role maintained as the primary slot option. All of that is to say … don’t expect a whole lot to change from a personnel perspective that matters much for fantasy.
What is notable, perhaps, is the fact that TE David Njoku has run the seventh-highest percentage of his routes (21.7%) split out wide this year among tight ends with 10+ targets, and that percentage certainly could increase in the absence of Cooper. If healthy, Njoku should be an every-week consideration at tight end if you don’t have a locked-and-loaded starter, especially given his opportunity for an increased target share.
All things considered, the Browns offense is bad enough right now that there are no real winners. Sorry, Cleveland.