The Las Vegas Raiders have changed regimes, but the dysfunction is still present. The 2025 NFL Offseason brought a ton of change for the franchise, as they again have a new starting quarterback, head coach, and general manager.
However, the roster itself is still quite hollow, and they just do not have a competitive team for the 2025 NFL Season. Well, on Monday, news broke that one of their wide receivers, Jakobi Meyers, requested a trade.
He's their biggest threat at the position, so perhaps for some damage control, the Raiders made a very Raiders signing earlier in the day.
Raiders signed free agent wide receiver Amari Cooper on Monday
Amari Cooper is now 31 years old and is returning for his second stint with the Raiders, the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Alabama.
WR Amari Cooper returning to Raiders on 1-year deal. (via @rapsheet) pic.twitter.com/fJf8z3vuCS
— NFL (@NFL) August 25, 2025
The five-time Pro Bowler has also played for the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, and Buffalo Bills, but he had the worst season of his career in 2024 and is clearly not a very effective player anymore.
In 2024, between the Browns and Bills, Cooper caught just 44 passes for 547 yards and four touchdowns. He caught just 51.8% of his targets, the second-lowest mark of his career. Cooper also had 12 drops, which was the highest total of his career as well.
The veteran receiver's yardage total in 2024 was the lowest mark of his NFL career, so by all accounts, the Raiders signed a player who simply isn't good anymore, and it just feels very on par for this franchise.
With the news of Jakobi Meyers requesting a trade and the Raiders simply being a bad football team and operation, I guess the team signing an over-the-hill wide receiver really isn't all that surprising when you think about it.