It has been over a week since the Cleveland Browns shipped Amari Cooper to the Buffalo Bills and now they are looking pretty smart after the latest NFL trade.
News broke this morning that the Tennessee Titans would be sending DeAndre Hopkins to the Kansas City Chiefs for a fourth-round pick that has the chance to become a fifth.
With that, it signals that the Browns acted at the right time to maximize the trade value of Cooper.
Cleveland traded Amari Cooper to the Bills at the right time
The Browns trading Cooper when they did likely got them a better draft pick than they would have received if they traded him next week. Hopkins and Cooper are both at similar points in their careers; they are two wideouts that are still good but past their prime. The difference between trading Cooper then and now is a Day 2 pick to a Day 3 pick.
For the Browns to receive a third-rounder instead of a fifth is a big win. It was thought that Kansas City could be the landing spot for Cooper, but they waited until this week to make a move after the Browns had already sent him to Buffalo.
It appears that Cooper landed on his feet and hit the ground running with the Bills. The Pro Bowl wideout had four catches for 66 yards and a touchdown in his first game wearing No. 18 in blue.
There are still other potential wide receiver dominos to fall around the league and when they do it will continue to drive the price down. If less teams are battling for a player in trade negotiations, the price can’t be jacked up.
While the Browns have had a lot of bad going on this season, the move to trade Cooper was clearly the right one and now it looks even better.
