Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills must be fans of the game “Counter-Strike.”
Mere hours after they defeated the New York Jets on “Monday Night Football” and subsequently watched their division rivals acquire three-time All-Pro WR Davante Adams, the Bills yet again successfully returned fire – and will maybe get the last laugh – after obtaining five-time Pro Bowl WR Amari Cooper from the Cleveland Browns.
Does everybody pass this latest pre-trade deadline test? We’re not exactly grading on a curve, but not everyone’s going to ace a move that could change the power dynamic in the AFC and, perhaps, the league at large …
AMARI COOPER TRADE GRADES
Buffalo Bills: A-
They’re off to a 4-2 start, good for first place in the AFC East, in the aftermath of trading WR1 Stefon Diggs (and his baggage) in the offseason. Adding the speedy Cooper and his silky route running to the lineup should elevate a 25th-ranked passing game while allowing young WRs Khalil Shakir and rookie Keon Coleman to slide into less prominent roles where they can perhaps grow and thrive more appropriately as they continue to develop into bigger components of this offense. It should also open up space for TEs Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox to operate. And, at the cost of 2025 third-rounder and pick swap of Day 3 selections, GM Brandon Beane is paying less than the Jets did for Adams or the Houston Texans did for Diggs, who brought a 2025 second-rounder back to Buffalo in April’s transaction. The Bills will pick up the remainder of Cooper’s $1.2 million salary but – unlike the Adams scenario for the Jets – would have to re-sign him to retain his rights beyond this season.
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Amari Cooper: B+
He’s in a decidedly better situation than he was after catching 24 passes for 250 yards and two scores for the cratered Browns. And it appeared the environment was affecting Cooper, who had some concentration drops – notably in a loss at Las Vegas – and hadn’t been able to return much production despite being targeted 53 times by highly ineffective Cleveland QB Deshaun Watson. (And, heck, maybe this goes back to the Browns’ pursuit of 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk during the summer – in a deal that allegedly would have involved Cooper.)
“It’s always frustrating to lose,’ Cooper said earlier this month in Washington, while admitting he hadn’t been playing his best football. ‘To lose in the fashion we did is even more frustrating.
The Bills have become a more run-centric team since promoting Joe Brady into the offensive coordinator’s chair midway through last season and have kept it on the ground 51% of the time in 2024. Still, there’s a golden opportunity for Cooper, 30, to amplify this offense – and he’s certainly grown used to playing in Great Lakes weather conditions – and set himself up for one more significant payday in free agency, it not prior if he falls in love with Bills Mafia.
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Cleveland Browns: C
It seems like they’re getting dimes on the dollar for one of their best players – especially after the 2023 season clearly illustrated what this team and Cooper were capable of with competent quarterback play. Given he was running out of contract and unable to excel anymore in these circumstances, GM Andrew Berry did the right thing by pulling the trigger now. What he really should have done was re-sign QB Joe Flacco in the offseason and lead the charge – when it became apparent weeks ago that it was needed – to sit Watson and his albatross contract on the bench. As things stand now? Sure, another Day 2 draft pick is nice. But barring a change under center, this franchise is basically dead in the water for another 2½ years.
Deshaun Watson: F
His 2024 season has gone from horrible to worse after he failed, unlike Flacco, to maintain the team’s best target as an integral part of the offense. Now Watson will be throwing primarily to Jerry Jeudy, who couldn’t establish himself as a WR1 before being traded by Denver, WRs Elijah Moore and Cedric Tillman and TE David Njoku, another player who looked far superior with passers other than Watson feeding him. The franchise’s trade for the controversial quarterback in 2022 has arguably already unfolded as the worst in league history and apparently will only continue to grow worse given the organization’s current inability – and unwillingness – to move on from the player Browns fans actually wish could have been the one sent to Buffalo … or anywhere.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.
