Wide receiver Amari Cooper appears headed toward free agency for the first time after 10 NFL seasons, and he’s doing so off the least productive performance of his career.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way.

When the Buffalo Bills traded third- and seventh-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft to the Cleveland Browns for Cooper and a sixth-round selection, the former Alabama All-American had escaped a struggling team for a perennial winner with an MVP-caliber quarterback.

But in eight regular-season and three playoff games with Buffalo, Cooper had 26 receptions for 338 yards and two touchdowns.

Coupled with his Cleveland stats, the five-time Pro Bowler and seven-time 1,000-yard receiver had 44 receptions for 547 yards and four touchdowns in the 2024 regular season – all career lows.

Bills general manager Brandon Beane still thinks Cooper helped the team.

“Sometimes when you add a piece, it’s: What does it do for the group, the offensive group?” Beane said during his end-of-season press conference. “Read a stat that was sent to me that basically where the games that Amari played in, our offense averaged seven-point-something more points per game. And so I do think Amari helped our offense. Did he put up All-Pro numbers in the games he was here? No. I think that’s for various reasons. Again, our offense improved. We averaged over 30 points. I think we were second in the league in total scoring.

“And you guys kind of know the mantra that was established this year by Josh and (offensive coordinator) Joe Brady of ‘Everybody eats.’ Adding him was not going to get away from that, but does that take a little pressure off of (wide receiver Khalil) Shakir, (tight end Dawson) Knox, (tight end Dalton) Kincaid, the run game, all that? So I do not regret the move. I think it did help us despite what his personal numbers were.”

In the 11 games in which Cooper played for Buffalo, the Bills averaged scoring 33.7 points per game. In Buffalo’s 2024 games without Cooper, the Bills averaged 26.8 points per game.

Instead of the No. 1 receiver for Buffalo, Cooper was the No. 3 or No. 4. During Cooper’s time with the Bills, including the postseason, Shakir led Buffalo’s wide receivers with 74 receptions for 746 yards and four touchdowns. Mack Hollins had 29 receptions for 401 yards and four touchdowns, Curtis Samuel had 25 receptions for 242 yards and three touchdowns and Keon Coleman had 20 receptions for 377 yards and two touchdowns.

During that time, Hollins played 625 offensive snaps, Shakir 564, Coleman 492, Cooper 319 and Samuel 314.

Cooper missed three games – two for a wrist injury and one for a back problem.

“You’re talking about a player who’s never been in this offensive system,” Beane said about the trade for Cooper. “And so we talked about that. We did some research. We’ve known Amari. He’s got to learn the playbook. He’s never thrown with Josh Allen. You have to acclimate with your team, learn an offense. The games keep going. And so, honestly, I think he did a great job of learning our offense, in fairness to him, in due time.

“He suffered the wrist injury, obviously. Banged his back. He missed some games. Fought through it. Honestly, his wrist could have required surgery, and I feel sure at least one of the doctors recommended it, but he wanted to keep playing.”

Cooper played through his ailments to reach a conference-championship game for the first time in his career. Buffalo’s season ended with a 32-29 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 26.

Cooper had four receptions for 33 yards while playing 32 offensive snaps in what might have been his final game with the Bills.

“I’ve got nothing but love and respect for Amari Cooper,” Allen said the day after that defeat. “I will never in my life say a bad thing about him. For him to come into this situation and understand the role that he was brought here to do, he is a true football player, a true teammate, and I’m just honored to share the field with him.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.