Amari Cooper thrills youngster by playing catch

How cool would it be to have a 1,000-yard NFL wide receiver drop by your football game in the street – even if he couldn’t run out for a pass?

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper did just that recently. TMZ Sports reported Cooper was touring investment properties when he saw some youngsters throwing a football around, so the former Alabama All-American stopped to play catch.

But Cooper had to tell the youngsters he couldn’t run. Cooper had surgery on his ankle after the 2020 NFL season. He had appeared to have suffered an injury late in the Cowboys’ regular-season finale on Jan. 3.

Remembering how a knee injury in Michael Irvin’s second season with Dallas had been part of the wide receiver’s journey to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jerry Jones, the Cowboys’ owner and general manager, hopes Cooper’s recovery from his injury will help him tap into his “unlimited potential.”

“Amari Cooper is one of the most talented football players we’ve ever had on the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones told the Cowboys’ website. “He has unlimited potential to go from here to a higher level. I think his surgery is going to allow him to do that. I think all of this is an experience-builder.

“I know that Michael Irvin told me the single-most thing he did in his career to make him a Hall of Famer was when he rehabbed through his injury and saw how much football meant to him. More likely than not, some of these negative experiences -- injury or setbacks -- can motivate you to be a Hall of Famer. It happened to Michael Irvin.”

In 2020, Cooper caught 92 passes for 1,114 yards and five touchdowns. He recorded the fifth 1,000-yard showing of his six NFL seasons.

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Cooper entered the NFL from Alabama as the fourth player picked in the 2015 draft.

With the Crimson Tide, Cooper broke school career records with 228 receptions for 3,463 yards and 31 touchdowns. In his final season with the Crimson Tide, Cooper broke the SEC single-season record with 124 receptions and school single-season marks with 1,727 receiving yards and 16 touchdown receptions.

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

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