As Profootballtalk.com framed it, "The Jets aren't the only AFC East team making a trade for a top-flight receiver on Tuesday."
According to multiple reports, the Bills are acquiring Amari Cooper from the Browns.
Buffalo will receive Cooper and a 2025 sixth-round pick, while Cleveland will receive a 2025 third-round pick and a 2026 seventh-round pick.
Cooper, 30, has caught 24 passes for 250 yards with two touchdowns this season.
While Cooper's production has been inconsistent, it's been impacted by the poor play of quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Last season, Cooper finished with 72 receptions for 1,250 yards with five touchdowns. With Joe Flacco at quarterback in the team's Week 16 matchup against the Texans, Cooper caught 11 passes for a single-game franchise record 265 yards.
Cooper was the subject of trade rumors just before the season started, as the Browns were reportedly looking to acquire San Francisco's Brandon Aiyuk.
But now, Cooper will get a fresh start with quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills.
Cooper investors will benefit from a quarterback upgrade and a better offense.
Still, as Footballguy Jason Wood noted, the Bills have only been throwing the ball 26 times per game.
Wood's initial projections model has Cooper WR32 rest of season after the trade.
"The Bills just don't throw enough to get him higher than that unless we're assuming massive TD production," Wood said while acknowledging that scoring potential is there if Cooper and Allen build a quick rapport.
Wood added that Cooper needs to average 75 yards per game the rest of the way to have 1,000 yards this year. He's only averaged that twice in his career.
In Allen's career, only Stefon Diggs averaged 75-plus yards per game, and he did it twice in 2020 and 2022.
So, Wood is confident in not projecting Cooper for 1,000 yards and 8 TDs.
So much so that he contends, "If someone can trade Cooper away this week to a manager who thinks that's likely, I'd pound the table on doing so."
Mwith a true alpha receiver on the roster, it's not clear that Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, and the other receiving assets in Buffalo will take significant hits.
As for the Browns, the poor get poorer.
In Sunday's loss to Philadelphia, the Browns became the first team in 10 years to score under 20 points in each of its first six games of the season.
Cleveland has now scored once in its last 29 drives.
While it appears the team will be getting Nick Chubb back in time for their Week 7 game against the Bengals, it will take more than a great running back to get this offense on track.
At the very least, it would require a quarterback change that isn't coming.
The passing offense was non-existent for most of Sunday's game. Watson threw the ball for 144 yards and took five sacks. Still, head coach Kevin Stefanski won't won't consider playing Jameis Winston over Watson.
"I think Deshaun gives us the best chance to win, continues to give us the best chance to win," Stefanski said, adding the team has to play sound offensive football around him.
That will be more difficult without Cooper.
Fantasy managers with Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku can expect bumps due to Cooper's vacated targets. Cooper led the team with a 26 percent target share.
But again, expectations in general should be kept in check when it comes to the Browns.
Of course, the Footballguys staff will have various views on this one, so watch for more on this story and the broader impact in coming days.
The move will also impact our Week 7 Footballguys Projections and Rankings, so watch for that.
Catch Harris every weekday morning on the Footballguys Daily Update Podcast, your 10-minute daily dose of NFL news and fantasy analysis. Find the latest edition here or subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. You can also listen to Harris weeknights on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio's The Football Diehards show and Sundays on the SXM Fantasy Football Pregame show on Sirius channel 87, and Saturday nights on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Sirius channel 88.
