The Buffalo Bills’ regular season finale against the New England Patriots will be meaningless to their playoff position, but wideout Amari Cooper won’t even be on the sidelines.
Cooper has been downgraded to out for Sunday’s game due to personal reasons according to NFL insider Adam Schefter.
“Bills WR Amari Cooper has been downgraded to out. He will not travel and has been excused for a personal family matter,” Schefter said on X.
The star receiver will not be traveling with the team to Foxborough on Saturday.
Cooper appeared on the team’s injury report Thursday and Friday due to a back issue but was not assigned an injury designation for Buffalo’s regular-season finale.
The Bills have yet to officially rule out any of their anticipated starters, though it’s widely expected that most will see minimal action in the inconsequential lead-up to the Wild Card playoff round next week.
Cooper concludes his 2024 regular season with 547 receiving yards, marking the lowest total of his 10-year career.
The 30-year-old has recorded 20 receptions on 32 targets for 297 yards and two touchdowns across eight games since being traded from the Cleveland Browns to the Bills earlier this season.
Cooper is hot off of catching all three of his targets for a touchdown and 56 yards against the New York Jets in the 40-14 obliteration. He also eclipsed 10,000 career receiving yards in the contest.
The touchdown catch made for a highlight-reel play on a risky throw from Josh Allen into the far right corner of the end zone.
“I’ve ran that route hundreds of times at this point. Generally, when the corner doesn’t bite on it, the quarterback just comes off of you and throws it somewhere else,” said Cooper. “When I saw that the corner didn’t bite, I was just like, I wasn’t jogging, but I was like, okay, he’s going to come off of me, and something told me, okay, he’s about to throw it. I kind of sped up a little bit, and it was just a routine catch, really, as far as like, high-pointing the ball.”
It’s been a tale of two seasons for Cooper; When he came to Buffalo from Cleveland, he was leaving a team that was 1-6. The Bills have gone 7-1 since he arrived.
Cooper may not be posting the numbers he used to, but he’s sharing the wealth of targets in a top NFL offense from arguably its best player under center.
“That’s the type of quarterback he is. He’s going to give you an opportunity. Every quarterback isn’t that way for some reason, but I am grateful for that,”
