What’s hard for the Raiders right now is picking a new head coach.
So many candidates, so many different styles and levels of experience.
What’s easy is to speculate about their pick with the No. 4 overall choice in the upcoming 2015 NFL Draft.
How about Amari Cooper, wide receiver, University of Alabama?
Now that the NFL season is over and all the teams are slotted with their picks, mock drafts already are flooding the Internet. Sometimes it feels as if mock drafts are more interesting and attention-grabbing to hardcore fans than the actual games from September through January.
And in the Raiders’ case, many of the mocks already are pointing toward Cooper. Matt Miller of Bleacher Report and Dane Brugler for CBS Sports this week both made strong cases for the Raiders selecting Cooper.
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And certainly, based on the performance of rookie wideouts around the NFL in 2014, a dynamic wide receiver could make a huge difference for the Raiders offense when paired with second-year quarterback Derek Carr.
Cooper, who is 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, is considered the best wide receiver in college football this season for the Crimson Tide. He had 115 catches before Thursday’s Sugar Bowl for 1,656 yards and 14 touchdowns. In Thursday's loss to Ohio State, Cooper added nine more receptions for 71 yards and two TDs.
Cooper on one side, with veteran James Jones on the other and an emerging Mychal Rivera at tight end would give Carr three solid targets with different skill sets.
Writes Brugler: “(Cooper) knows how to do the two most important things at the position: get open and finish catches.”
Writes Miller: “Cooper is a balanced threat, capable of attacking the ball in the air or making plays on the ground after the catch. He may not grade out higher than Sammy Watkins or Mike Evans did pre-draft (2014), but he’s on par with where Odell Beckham Jr. graded out.”
After the season Beckham just had, that’s not a bad comparison. The Raiders certainly could live with that.
