Oakland Raiders Should Select Amari Cooper Over Kevin White

Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Potential, Potential, Potential!

It is every blogger, tweeter, and draft guru’s favorite word about this time of the year. With the draft rapidly approaching next week, one can only expect to hear more people talk about potential.

That is the case with West Virginia Wide Receiver Kevin White. At 6’3 and running a 4.35 forty, White is an absolute phenom with limitless potential. On the other hand, Alabama Receiver Amari Cooper brings the production and polish to contrast White, despite being only 6’1. Cooper, the former Biletnikoff winner, makes his claim as the top receiver accumulating more than 1,700 yards last season with Alabama combined with top performances in the Combine’s agility drills.

Once White ran the 4.35 fourty at the combine, the comparison between the two was on. Everyone has chimed in on their preference including Grantland, NFL.com, Just Blog Baby, and White himself. CBS Sports makes the comparison of Cooper to the Steeler’s Antonio Brown, while White is compared to Atlanta’s Julio Jones.

Well fans and media go back and forth between the two, the Raiders need the instant impact of Cooper with the No. 4 pick.

Even if you can’t teach White’s size and speed, Cooper’s domination of competition in the SEC is not something to take lightly. Not to mention, Cooper learned a little bit about winning playing as a yearly contender with the Crimson Tide.

As Raider fans, we are way too familiar with potential in draft picks going wrong, cough Darius Heyward-Bey. Considering we haven’t had a receiver have more than 1,000 yards since Randy Moss, this is the season to do it. Raider fans and young-quarterback Derek Carr don’t have a year or two to wait for a receiver to develop. Especially with our Stadium situation, the time is now to get a instance game-changer.

Added, People seem to forget we already have big possession receivers. James Jones and Michael Crabtree have big enough bodies to be the security blanket in the red-zone. Meanwhile, Andre Holmes and Rod Streater have their own combination of speed and size to be Derek Carr’s home-run threat.

Of course none of those guys are as dynamic as either White or Cooper, but as a unit the Raiders’ have a bigger need for Cooper’s skill set. The Raiders need a jack-of-all-trades. Someone who can take a screen pass, line-up in the slot, line-up outside, and run intermediate routes. Sure, White can learn all of those things, but Cooper already showed an ability to do all of that at Alabama.

Especially with the Raiders’ plan to implement more spread and no-huddle elements, Cooper has more of the agility and YAC ability to thrive for the team. White could easily become a dominating deep-threat, but the Raiders had so much trouble staying on the field that they need someone able to do deep and intermediate work.

Either way, both players will probably be great players at the next level. They are both great prospects with different skill-sets. We saw the same effect of polish versus sexy pick happened last season between the polished Sammy Watkins and athletic Mike Evans. The more polished Watkins won that battle last season, being selected first, despite Evans’ better year eclipsing 1,000 yards.

Still, Cooper should without hesitation be the Raiders’ pick at No. 4. Who knows, maybe Cooper will dominate for years in Silver and Black like Hall of Famer Tim Brown?

Which receiver do you think is more worthy of the Raiders’ No. 4 draft pick?