Oakland Raiders Did Not Visit With Amari Cooper During Draft Process
By Chase Ruttig
Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie and his scouting staff met with plenty of prospects during the lead up to the 2015 NFL Draft, trying to get a better feel for some of the top talent in the class. From first round prospects to sleepers in later rounds, the team either interviewed or worked out a large handful of names as usual in doing their homework for this weekend when the future of the Raiders will become a lot clearer with a new batch of draft picks coming to Oakland after the 2015 Draft.
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One of the top prospects the Raiders did not bring in for a pre-draft visit was noteworthy as Alabama wideout Amari Cooper did not sit down with McKenzie or any of the Oakland staff. Somewhat surprising considering how many draft experts have Cooper pegged to go to Oakland as the top wide receiver in the 2015 Draft class.
Even more surprising is that the Raiders did not visit Cooper despite the rest of the front offices in the Top 10 meeting with the Crimson Tide star. The only other team inside the Top 12 not visiting with Cooper being the Minnesota Vikings, who draft in the #11 spot and are likely out of Cooper’s range at that position in the first round.
From CSN Bay Area:
"Alabama wideout Amari Cooper, widely regarded as the top receiver in the 2015 NFL draft, visited 10 teams in the top 12 picks, according to the National Football Post.Cooper met with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 1), Tennessee Titans (No. 2), Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 3), Washington (No. 5), New York Jets (No. 6), Chicago Bears (No. 7), Atlanta Falcons (No. 8), New York Giants (No. 9), St. Louis Rams (No. 10) and the Cleveland Browns (No. 12).The two teams in the top-12 grouping he did not meet with include the Oakland Raiders (No. 4) and Minnesota Vikings (No. 11).The Raiders were the only team in the top 10 not to schedule a pre-draft visit with Cooper."
The case of the Raiders not visiting with Cooper is a surprising one that could be attributed to a variety of reasons. One being that McKenzie did not feel that he needed additional information on a prospect who is highly touted and already spoke to a large amount of teams making it less important for the general manager to get an up close interview with Cooper. The other reason could be that the Raiders are not looking at Cooper and instead are looking at taking a pass rusher in the first round, but nobody knows for sure until draft day even if plenty of speculation can be made over McKenzie not bringing in a top prospect in a position of need for a sit down.
Nobody knows what will happen for sure with the Raiders and Cooper, as the team could still shock everyone by taking the receiver, but not visiting with the player makes it seem less likely that the team will be selecting him with the fourth overall selection. Even if a large portion of mock draft analysts are still pegging him to be the top wideout that the Raiders need, even if Reggie McKenzie’s actions are showing that the team’s scouting moves may not fall in line with what the national media are feeling that the general manager should do with his first round selection.