The Cleveland Browns may have more leverage in an Amari Cooper deal today than they’ll be able to muster at any point between now and the NFL’s November 5 trade deadline.
The Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, October 3, officially sent wide receiver Rashee Rice to the injured reserve list (IR) with a banged up knee. That means Rice will miss at least the next four games and that he joins Marquise “Hollywood” Brown as members of KC’s receiving ranks sidelined indefinitely with injury.
Granted, the Chiefs are one of just two 4-0 teams remaining in the league (Minnesota Vikings). However, their victories have all been by seven points or fewer and the anti-Kansas City skeptics have cried foul on the officiating in two of those four wins.
Tight end Travis Kelce is having the slowest start to any season he’s had since pretty much ever, and the Chiefs appear to need more pass-catchers if they hope to turn their two-peat into a three-peat this February.
“It seems relatively likely that Cleveland will end up trading Cooper for some draft capital, and the Chiefs always have Skyy Moore to potentially include in a deal,” Matthew Schmidt of ON SI wrote Tuesday. “Cooper won’t fetch a first-round pick, but at this point, if the Browns can land a decent draft choice along with a young receiver like Moore in return for Cooper, they should just pull the trigger.”
Moore hasn’t been a huge hit since joining the league, though he does carry some value yet.
The former second-round pick out of Western Michigan is playing in the third year of his $6.5 million rookie deal and is just 24 years old. He caught 43 passes over his first two years in Kansas City for a total of 494 receiving yards and 1 TD.
“He’s a one-note route-runner lacking acceleration out of break points but showed off impressive vertical speed at the NFL Scouting Combine,” Lance Zierlein of NFL Network wrote after Moore’s pre-draft workout.
Moore wouldn’t transform the Browns offense, though Cooper has already dropped six passes through four games and his chemistry with quarterback Deshaun Watson appears somewhere between off and non-existent.
If Cleveland decides to move Cooper ahead of the deadline, they will center the deal around picking up a draft asset and more or less punting on a lost season, at which point getting back a high-value, high-cost playmaker in return would actually be antithetical to the point.
The Browns could take a low-cost flier on Moore and see if he works out. Then, if he doesn’t, they can part ways inexpensively.
Meanwhile, the team should be able to pick up a late Day 2 or early Day 3 pick for Cooper who will likely leave for nothing in free agency next March if Cleveland doesn’t trade him before then.
Amari Cooper Makes Sense as 1-Year Play for Chiefs
Cooper also makes sense for the Chiefs for reasons beyond just the absences of Rice and Brown.
He’s highly affordable, making him easier for a cash-strapped team to acquire, and only under contract for this season.
“Trading for Browns receiver Amari Cooper would give the Chiefs the No. 1 target they’ll lack with Rice sidelined,” Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report wrote Wednesday. “The Browns have also made the five-time Pro Bowler an affordable option by restructuring the final year of his contract. Under the new terms, he carries a base salary of just $1.2 million this season.”
