2015 Draft Profile: Amari Cooper

Yards After Catch/Contact

There are a lot of “possession receivers” that have sure hands and can make the catch in traffic where you need them to, only to fall down right there as soon as they are hit. This is not the case for Cooper. One of his biggest strengths is what he does after the catch, using his elite quickness and elusiveness to make it difficult for people to bring him down even once contact is made. He’s fairly beefy in his chest and thighs for a WR and is not afraid to take a hit for a few more yards. Often “a few more yards” ends up being in the double digits.

LSU was one of the more successful teams at corralling Cooper’s production and he still got 8 catches for 83 yards and 1 TD. They played a lot of tight press coverage, looking to stall him off the line and disrupt his release. It worked to mixed results, but he still found ways around it. On this play he again uses his beautiful stutter-step to get open on the slant route then uses his after catch skills to get 18 more yards into the end zone. He utilizes his teammate as a blocker, takes contact, and still makes it into the end zone. And…. that STIFF ARM. If anyone was worried about lacking physical ability that should be gone after watching plays like these. LSU did all they could, but some things are just impossible to prepare for.