As we gear up to the start of the NFL season, Football Absurdity is going to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of every notable player that will be available in fantasy football drafts. We only look at the past three seasons for a player. This is because anyone who is looking at data from 2016 to figure out what to do in 2020 had better be Faye Dunaway practicing how not to screw up the Best Film Oscar nomination. Amari Cooper clearly has top-10 fantasy potential, but will he get enough volume to justify a top-25 pick?
Amari Cooper ADP and AAV:
Standard: WR11, 24 overall
PPR: WR9, 29 overall
Average Auction Value: $20
Amari Cooper Statistics:
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| G | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| GS | 16 | 15 | 12 |
| Tgt | 119 | 107 | 96 |
| Rec | 79 | 75 | 48 |
| Yards | 1189 | 1005 | 680 |
| TD | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| Tgt/G | 7.44 | 6.69 | 6.00 |
| Rec/G | 4.94 | 4.69 | 3.00 |
| Rec% | 66.4% | 70.1% | 50.0% |
| Yds/Tgt | 9.99 | 9.39 | 7.08 |
| Yds/Rec | 15.05 | 13.40 | 14.17 |
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Std Pts | 167.5 | 140.5 | 110.4 |
| HPPR Pts | 207 | 178 | 134.4 |
| PPR Pts | 246.5 | 215.5 | 158.4 |
| Pts/G | 10.5 | 9.4 | 7.9 |
| HPPR Pts/G | 12.9 | 11.9 | 9.6 |
| PPR Pts/G | 15.4 | 14.4 | 11.3 |
| Pts/Tgt | 1.41 | 1.31 | 1.15 |
| Pts/Tgt (HPPR) | 1.74 | 1.66 | 1.40 |
| Pts/Tgt (PPR) | 2.07 | 2.01 | 1.65 |
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Air Yards | 1485 | 732 | 1109 |
| aDOT | 12.5 | 9.8 | 11.6 |
| YAC | 278 | 311 | 293 |
| YAC/Tgt | 2.34 | 4.15 | 3.05 |
| YAC/Rec | 3.52 | 5.98 | 6.10 |
| YAC% | 23.4% | 43.3% | 43.1% |
| AYMS | 26% | 32% | 27% |
| Tgt MS | 20% | 24% | 20% |
Amari Cooper Overview:
Emerging as Dak Prescott’s favorite target in 2018, Amari Cooper finished #9 among wide receivers in HPPR, last year. Dallas offense looks all-world for 2020…
there is concern that rookie CeeDee Lamb could cut into Cooper’s share. Amari “Hangin’ with Mr.” Cooper had only 79 catches. last year, fourth-fewest among top-15 fantasy receivers. If he gets fewer targets, his stock might empty out like a Minneapolis Target.
Amari Cooper Strategy:
Amari Cooper Auction Value: $30
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming late June)
This year in redraft, Amari Cooper’s critics and advocates differ wildly. He’s ranked as high as WR7 but as low as WR24. I’ve seen him go as high as the early second-round or as low as the late third-round. At auction, Amari Cooper falls anywhere between $20-$40, not unlike black market toilet paper.
For me, I need my first picked wide receiver to win me weeks, but I also need them to not cause my entire team to lose. In 2019, Cooper had five games with 5.3 or fewer fantasy points (HPPR). He had 6.8 total in week fifteen and sixteen during the fantasy football playoffs. While that’s statistically unlikely to repeat itself, statistics can’t paste over the smoldering hole in my heart. I’ll take him if he drops, but reaching for him is not wise when we know exactly what his upside is.
Best Case Scenario:
Amari Cooper repeats as a back-end WR1. Dallas scores 2,000 points in the regular season. We are subjected to more shots of a crypt-keeper billionaire feeling happy.
Worst Case Scenario:
Cooper becomes part of a… can I call it a Wide-Receiver-by-Committee? He still goes off some weeks, but his floor becomes incredibly low when opposing defenses decide to double-team him. Even worse for fantasy players, these bad games become increasingly more frustrating to try to predict.
[Photo Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nevertheless,_she_persisted!!_-WomensMarch_-WomensMarch2018_-SenecaFalls_-NY_(28029097509).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dallas_Cowboys_National_Anthem_(38053594051).jpg under cc-2.0]
[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com and airyards.com]
