As of press time, former Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Amari Cooper remains unsigned. Cooper landed in Cleveland in 2022, with the idea that he'd make a great new option for Baker Mayfield to throw to. Shortly after, Mayfield was out, and Deshaun Watson was in. Despite the team's apparent "upgrade" to the "adult in the room", Cooper never thrived with Watson. Mostly because Watson hardly ever played.
Cooper instead thrived with whoever threw him the ball. While he never lived up to his contract that the Dallas Cowboys gave him, Cooper was still a viable and strong receiver for the Browns and was the obvious top guy in the receiving corps for the duration of his time with the team. The team, however, decided that with his age, contract, and expectations to win, Cooper would be better off playing for a new team and traded him to the Buffalo Bills midway through the 2024 campaign.
Now, Cooper is a free agent, and the Browns need help at wide receiver. The team made some moves in 2024 to bolster the receiver room, trading for Jerry Jeudy. The move was met with some contention as the former Denver Broncos receiver never met expectations for his former team. After arriving in Cleveland, however, Jeudy went over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. The team still needs help at the position, though.
Andrew Berry can't seem to draft a good wide receiver if his job depended on it, with David Bell, Cedric Tillman, and Michael Woods II all proving to be underperformers so far in their careers. Dionte Johnson is a modest improvement, coming over from the Houston Texans, while DeAndre Carter is likely here to serve as a return specialist. Making the only other obvious and likely names to help out five unique and different rookies.
The Browns really have no one reliable after Jeudy, and even Jeudy's one year certainly doesn't make him "reliable". He could regress, after all, the man who threw him the ball more than anyone (Jameis Winston) is no longer here.
With Winston out and Joe Flacco back in, it would make sense to bring in one of the guys who benefited the most from him: Cooper. Cooper had nearly 400 yards in his final two games of the 2023 season, thanks in part to Flacco throwing him the ball.
Cooper isn't an elite receiver, but he could still be a viable option to help fortify the Browns' passing game. He's certainly an upgrade over every other second option the team has.