All eyes were on Chicago for the NFL Draft on Thursday night, but Amari Cooper heard his name on a television set in Tuscaloosa.
The Alabama wide receiver decided to stay in town with family, and was selected fourth overall by the Oakland Raiders.
“I came to Alabama to win, but I also wanted a chance to play in the NFL and that dream was realized tonight,” Cooper said in a statement. “This is a special night and just the start of the next chapter of my football career. I want to thank all of my teammates and coaches at Alabama for an amazing experience. I also want to express my excitement to the Raiders’ organization and all of their fans, and let them know I’m ready to go to work.”
Cooper was the top receiver in college football last season, winning the Biletnikoff Award and leading the country in receptions and receiving yards. He has every receiving record there is to have for Alabama, and NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said Cooper was the “most pro-ready receiver in the draft.”
He can step in right away and play in the offense led by second-year quarterback Derek Carr, on a Raiders team that finished 3-13 last season.
“[Amari] understands the game,” Oakland Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie said. “You can tell the guy has been playing football and the position for his whole life. You don’t hear any negatives about this guy.”
Cooper is Alabama’s first receiver taken since Julio Jones was taken sixth overall by the Atlanta Falcons in 2011. He wasn’t highly touted coming out of high school, but he was the first receiver picked in the 2015 NFL Draft and was a favorite of his offensive coordinator.
With Alabama’s top receiver headed to Oakland, he will also rejoin former Alabama running back Trent Richardson who seemed excited about the prospect of playing with Cooper again.
Cooper being selected at No. 4 is the earliest an Alabama player has been picked since Richardson went third overall to the Cleveland Browns in 2012.
On the defensive side of the football, Alabama safety Landon Collins fell out of the first round. A runner up for the Thorpe Award last season, Collins was one of the mainstays of Alabama’s defensive backfield, as well as being a “demon” on special teams.
Believed to be a top talent, Collins will have to wait another day to hear his name called along with multiple other Alabama players like fullback Jalston Fowler and running back T.J. Yeldon and more.
Cooper is Nick Saban’s 17th first-round pick during his time at Alabama. The last time Alabama had fewer than one player selected in the first round was 2009 when Andre Smith was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Alabama has now had 42 players drafted into the NFL since 2009, and Cooper is just the first of many to be taken in this year’s NFL Draft.
