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Why Amari Cooper was a better Bills signing than Davante Adams
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Why Amari Cooper was a better Bills signing than Davante Adams

The Buffalo Bills made a splash Tuesday afternoon by trading a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and a future seventh-round selection to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for multiple Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper and a 2025 day three pick. choose. The Bills have needed help in the wide receiver room since the start of the season, and now they have their man to bolster an offense led by one of the NFL’s top talents at quarterback, Josh Allen.

Conversely, before this trade was announced, the New York Jets traded for superstar wide receiver Davante Adams, with the Jets giving the Raiders a conditional third-round pick that could become a second-round selection if Adams is an All-Pro OF is becoming. starting in the AFC Championship Game.

Related: Instant analysis of Bills’ acquisition of WR Amari Cooper

Buffalo was also reportedly in the mix for Adams, but acquiring Cooper for the price they paid was a much better option than trading for Adams for a whole host of reasons.

First, the Jets will have to assume the remainder of Adams’ contract, which amounts to approximately $11.6 million in cap hit, after the restructuring takes effect. This is big enough in itself because Buffalo couldn’t afford to sign such a contract with its limited cap space. Instead, the Bills acquired Amari Cooper for less than $1 million against their salary cap ($806,667 to be exact); Buffalo still gets a game-changing pass catcher for a fraction of the price.

Amari Kuiper

Peter Casey-Imagn images

Not only do the Bills save money by acquiring a younger (Cooper is 30, Adams is 31), cheaper receiver, but they also solved a major problem with their offense, namely the lack of a deep threat and a generally reliable option . Currently, Cooper leads the league with 473 yards on incomplete targets this season, indicating that his previous quarterback Deshaun Watson was unable to hit him properly.

This won’t be an issue if Allen throws him the ball, so Cooper’s production should be through the roof, benefiting the Bills in countless ways on ALL sides of the ball. Cooper’s presence benefits Buffalo’s offense both individually and in a larger sense, allowing the team’s previous pass catchers to establish themselves in more promising roles; the Adams acquisition would have accomplished these tasks as well, but at many times the price.

Adams certainly wouldn’t have been a bad acquisition, but the resulting discourse would likely have come with caveats; conversely, there don’t appear to be any issues with the Cooper trade. It’s a good day to be a Bills fan as it looks like the team has beaten the Jets twice in the last 24 hours.

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