Just In: New Bills receiver Amari Cooper on playing with Josh Allen: ‘It’s phenomenal…. Check In

Orchard Park, N.Y. — New Buffalo Bills receiver Amari Cooper had nothing but time to think during Tuesday’s drive from Cleveland to Western New York.

Cooper, traded from the Browns to the Bills, met with reporters in Buffalo on Wednesday and said his phone blew up during his drive. Between text messages, Cooper spent most of the drive thinking about his new team and situation as the No. 1 receiver for the AFC East-leading Bills.

What does he think about his new quarterback, Josh Allen? Cooper has been a fan of Allen for a while.

“As far as the way he plays, I mean, it’s phenomenal,” Cooper said. “Every time I turn on the television and watch him play. He plays with a lot of grit; a lot of hustle. He plays hard, and obviously he’s been one of the top quarterbacks in the game for a while now. So just to be able to play with him and experience that in person is going to be real cool.”

The addition of Cooper was more about opportunity than need, according to Bills general manager Brandon Beane. The Bills have been checking in on Cooper’s availability for weeks, and with the Browns falling to 1-5, they were finally willing to trade a player who wasn’t in their plans past this season.

“I’m always looking,” Beane said, “It doesn’t mean I didn’t like the group (we had). … If we didn’t do this deal for him, I still like our group. (He) adds an experienced, proven skillset to the group. (Now) how quickly can we get him fit in? I know he’s going to work hard.”

Cooper was still reeling from the past 24 hours when he met with reporters. He just finished his first practice (Wednesday’s walkthrough) and is already rushing to learn the Bills’ offensive playbook.

Bills coach Sean McDermott wouldn’t commit to Cooper playing on Sunday, but the 30-year-old has been in this situation before. He was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2018, but they were headed into their bye week, giving Cooper extra time to prepare for his debut. He has five days to get ready to play the Tennessee Titans.

“I just got here,” he said. “So I don’t really have an expectation right now that I can chalk up to being realistic until I go through the week. If I had to answer the question, the expectation would just be to take full advantage of my opportunities. That’s it. I don’t know what opportunities I would be blessed with for Sunday, but whatever it is, just take full advantage of it.”

Allen was thrilled when he got the call from Beane with news of the trade. The Bills quarterback has been a big fan of Cooper’s for a long time, and he’s been impressed from afar with how smart and detailed the veteran receiver is.

The route running that he possesses, the ability to separate from defenders, I think his contested catch ability is through the roof,” Allen said. “You throw that into a room with a guy like Keon (Coleman) and a guy like Mack Hollins, two other guys that are very good at contested catches. And then you have Khalil (Shakir) and Curtis (Samuel) underneath. Able to mix him around, he can play the slot, he can play outside, you can move him around. Again just getting him involved in this offense and just see what we can do with him.”

Allen plans to spend extra time in the film room with Cooper to speed up the chemistry-building process.

“It’s not the easiest thing, just based on verbiage and terminology and what system he was in before this,” Allen said. “And our system is not the easiest to learn. But again, the things that I’ve heard about him and know about him, he’s a very smart guy. He’s going to work extremely hard, and he’s going to figure this out.”

Allen says it’s not as much about Cooper’s body language and getting on the same page when you have a player with his skills. Cooper gets open – a lot. That’s the kind of trait that’ll make a receiver a quarterback’s best friend.

Allen thinks Cooper gives the Bills’ offense a boost.

“It’s Amari Cooper, ya know,” he said. “So we’re very excited about that. I know the whole offense is. And that receiver room, they are going to welcome him with open arms and be ready to work with him and try to learn from him, too, because he’s had a lot of success in this league and obviously holds a lot of knowledge. So I think it’s going to help our guys a lot.”

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