While the Davante Adams-Aaron Rodgers reunion grabbed all the headlines yesterday, the Buffalo Bills quietly addressed their concerns in the receiving corps by signing Amari Cooper from the Browns. Fans were naturally thrilled with their team signing a five-time Pro Bowler and inundated Cooper’s Instagram posts to express their jubilation.
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At the start of this season, the Bills signed a host of receivers and playmakers, hoping this collective group would fill the void left by Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis.
With a 4-2 record so far, the plan has worked decently well, but not well enough to help them compete with the big boys. This is why signing a certified receiving powerhouse in Amari Cooper makes sense for the team.
The AFC East table toppers’ fanbase knows this and thus hyped their latest signing by commenting on Amari’s Instagram posts. Specifically, the Bills Mafia is spamming their “Welcome to the Mafia” slogan on the wide receiver’s 6-month-old Instagram post, which, surprisingly, is also his most recent social media post.
View this post on Instagram
The post doesn’t contain anything related to football. As seen above, it’s more about the WR flexing his drip and philosophy than anything else. Regardless, the Bills Mafia’s love saw no bounds as they hijacked the post with their joy. From welcome messages to potshots at Deshaun Watson, Buffalo fans had a ball.
Excited Bills fans hv thornged to #AmariCooper Instagram post to let him know how much they’re excited to hv him pic.twitter.com/ViGXXvd46o
— NFL World, What’s Up?? (@Whats_Up_NFL) October 16, 2024
On-field impact aside, the deal’s structure makes a lot of sense for both Amari and the Bills.
Amari Cooper to Bills is a win-win situation for both parties
Mid-season trades usually mean one thing — adjustment. Whether it involves changes in salary terms or picks, the Bills-Cooper deal thankfully hasn’t required much of it. From the player’s side, salary terms haven’t been restructured.
The Bills will cover the remaining portion of his salary and will also accommodate him into their salary cap for this season. So in essence, the Bills have to pay approximately $800,000 as the base salary for the rest of his season.
The issue, however, will arise if Amari hits his performance-based incentives that can range up to $2.5 million, but in an ideal world, that’s a good problem to have.
From a team perspective, the Bills firstly are signing a WR at an age where he is still in his prime. They are also receiving a 6th-round pick for 2025 while giving up a 3rd-round and 7th-round pick in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
On paper, this sounds like a superb deal for the Bills as they have a relatively young core to not get affected by the picks exchanged. The real verdict, as always, is delivered on the field. But as of now, the Bills Mafia has a lot to rejoice!
