With the NFL season just around the corner, former Alabama legend Amari Cooper has finally signed after a lengthy free agent process.
Cooper will enter his 11th year in the NFL with the same team he played his first in what could ultimately prove to be his final season.
On Monday, Cooper agreed to a one-year contract with the Las Vegas Raiders:
Reunion: Former #Bills WR Amari Cooper, one of the NFL’s top free agents still available, is signing with the #Raiders on a 1-year deal, per source.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 25, 2025
Some late, big-time pass-catching help for the team that once drafted him in the first round. pic.twitter.com/pWCjmWzCmv
Cooper was drafted by the Raiders in 2015 with the 4th overall pick after a prolific three-year career at Alabama. Cooper helped Alabama win the National Championship as a true freshman, setting the program's still-standing freshman receiving yards record with 1000. Cooper was a Heisman finalist in 2014 and won the Biletnikoff Award. He put up 1727 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior.
Cooper made the Pro Bowl with the then-Oakland Raiders during his first two NFL seasons, producing over 1000 yards both years. He struggled in year three and fell out of favor with a new coaching staff. He was traded mid-season in 2018 to the Dallas Cowboys, where he immediately returned to the production from his first two seasons in Oakland. Cooper made it back to the Pro Bowl in 2018 and 2019 with Dallas, ultimately earning a lucrative contract extension.
Cooper was traded to the Browns prior to the 2022 season and produced back-to-back 1000-yard receiving seasons in Cleveland, making the Pro Bowl for a fifth time in his career in 2023.
The Browns traded Cooper before last season's deadline to the Buffalo Bills. He struggled in Buffalo, never really catching on with Josh Allen and that offense. Some assumed his career might be over.
Amari Cooper's NFL career has come full circle
Cooper is not the player he was a couple of seasons ago. He's on the wrong side of his 30s with his prime now in the rearview mirror. But he has had an exceptional career, and signing with the Raiders will give him an opportunity to finish his career where it started.
For his career, Cooper has 10,033 receiving yards and 64 touchdowns. He probably won't be a Hall-of-Famer, but his status in the Hall-of-Very-Good has never really been in question.
He'll also forever be a Crimson Tide legend regardless of how his career finishes up. Cooper was not only prolific as a freshman, he also made the play of the season when he caught a fourth-quarter touchdown pass from AJ McCarron in the SEC Championship Game that ultimately proved to be the game-winner.