Silver And Black Pride
In a surprising turn of events, Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper has decided to retire just three days before the Raiders’ season opener against the New England Patriots, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The timing of Cooper’s decision is interesting. Not only is it a few days before the start of the season, as mentioned above, but Cooper also just signed with the Raiders on August 25, the day before the 53-man roster cutdown day. Also, the coaching staff made it seem as if he was going to be a significant part of the offense despite joining the team late.
So, the 2015 No. 4 overall pick’s reunion with the organization that drafted him is short-lived, as he won’t even play another game for the Silver and Black.
Meanwhile, the Raiders now only have four wide receivers on the active roster: Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker and rookies Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Jack Bech. Presumptively, the front office added the veteran wideout to avoid having to lean too heavily on the two first-year pros. So, the Raiders could be facing the situation they were trying to avoid.
Alex Bachman, Shedrick Jackson and Justin Shorter are all on the practice squad, though. Those three spent all of training camp with the club but were cut to make room for Cooper. Most likely, one of them will be getting called up to fill the void out wide.
Cooper hangs ‘em up after accumulating 711 catches, 10,033 yards and 64 touchdowns while playing for the Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills during his 10 NFL seasons.
