The Las Vegas Raiders brought in Amari Cooper last week, reuniting with the veteran wide receiver as a last-ditch effort to bolster the offense ahead of the 2025 NFL season. Unfortunately, just as quickly as he arrived, he left, retiring from the NFL in a shocking move on Thursday.
While Cooper was not with the team for the majority of the offseason, his sudden announcement was still disappointing for Raider Nation. His chance at redemption with the Silver and Black has been squandered, and it is a brutal reminder of the team's recent struggles at the wide receiver position.
Last offseason, veteran Michael Gallup pulled a similar stunt, signing with the team but retiring before the season without ever playing in a preseason or regular season game. Cooper and Gallup's recent moves, however, are just the tip of the iceberg for failed wide receiver additions.
Amari Cooper's retirement proves Raiders have worst WR luck in NFL
This struggle began in 2006, when Randy Moss wanted out of Oakland due to its pitiful trio of quarterbacks. Of course, he went on to lead the league with 23 receiving touchdowns the next year with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, but even worse was that this was a harbinger of things to come.
Back in 2018, the Raiders sent a third-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for Martavis Bryant. They did this even though a suspension from the NFL was likely coming. He was released before playing in a regular-season game, but was conditionally reinstated. Bryant then played in eight contests before breaking the rules of his conditional reinstatement, and never played another snap in the NFL.
Cooper forced his way out of Oakland during the 2018 season as well. The Raiders, led by head coach Jon Gruden, traded him to the Dallas Cowboys for some premier draft capital, which was obviously wasted by Mike Mayock and Co.
To replace Cooper, the team went out and got Antonio Brown the following offseason. He left in a more dramatic fashion, freezing his feet off and getting into several public altercations with the team's leadership before being infamously cut.
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A few years later, with the team in Las Vegas, the Raiders had a chance to hit the reset button. They drafted Henry Ruggs III in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft despite CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy and Justin Jefferson all being on the table, and fans remember how tragically his tenure turned out.
Bryan Edwards and Lynn Bowden, who were taken in the third round of the same draft, both failed with the Raiders as well. Bowden was traded before his first season even began, so the team was eventually left with no good wideouts from a draft in which they took three in the first three rounds.
To make up for this, the new leadership tandem of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler made a blockbuster trade for Davante Adams in 2022. Of course, after a short burst of stardom, Adams soured on the franchise and turned on his teammates and the fan base.
This led to Adams also criticizing the organization and his teammates to a national audience, and he was traded to the New York Jets in 2024. Gallup's quick flicker with the Raiders happened just a month or so before Adams was dealt.
That takes us to this offseason, where star wideout Jakobi Meyers has already requested a trade, and Cooper made a nine-day cameo with the Silver and Black before deciding to retire. I'm not sure how we do it, Raider Nation, but better days have to be ahead.