Jonathan Cooper before now

[Fencer]

They also get guard Jonathan Cooper, an intriguing buy-low candidate whom the Patriots reportedly loved when scouting him before the 2013 draft. A lot of teams loved Cooper back then, with the Cardinals eventually taking Cooper with the seventh overall pick. He hasn't impressed many since, missing his entire rookie season with a broken leg before failing to win a starting job in 2014 and inspiring rare public scorn from Bruce Arians. Cooper then suffered a knee injury in 2015 before losing his job to journeyman Ted Larsen down the stretch; the Cardinals were considering moving Cooper to center before this trade.

Barnwell: Why the Patriots traded Chandler Jones now

Ironies abound.

 

[DarrylS]

A Pats friend called last night to talk about this development, in the end we both came up with in Bill we trust.. enough said. Despite the all the skepticism, we added a draft pick.. and a low risk, high reward O line man...

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

One thing to take note of, is Arizona does not have an Oline coach. Too early to tell of that's a legitimate reason for Cooper's struggles. However, we saw first hand what poor oline coaching can do to the progression of young players on the oline this past season. This is a Scarnecchia and BB project I'm going to pay very close attention to, the pay off if they can build this guy back up to meet his potential is enormous ..

 

[goheels22002]

Go Heels! Jonathan Cooper is a road grader who will benefit from Dante's coaching. If he stays healthy, Shaq Mason, Bryan Stork and Jonathan Cooper is a good, young, nasty interior. I suspect we see the Patriots grab a high-profile back with these guys in the fold.

I worry that he's had so many leg problems. Good luck big fella.

Jonathan Cooper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[IllegalContact]

Cooper sucked

that is until yesterday afternoon

He's awesome now

 

[RobertWeathers]

One thing to take note of, is Arizona does not have an Oline coach. Too early to tell of that's a legitimate reason for Cooper's struggles. However, we saw first hand what poor oline coaching can do to the progression of young players on the oline this past season. This is a Scarnecchia and BB project I'm going to pay very close attention to, the pay off if they can build this guy back up to meet his potential is enormous ..

This is quite interesting.

 

[Kontradiction]

Cooper sucked

that is until yesterday afternoon

He's awesome now

Ross Tucker seems to agree with your first two sentences...

 

[Mike the Brit]

Ross Tucker seems to agree with your first two sentences...

Looking forward to the new Dion Lewis ...

 

[Sicilian]

Ross Tucker seems to agree with your first two sentences...

Well, if Ross Tucker says so...

 

[50-yard-line]

Reiss has a good read on him today:

Newly acquired guard Jonathan Cooper faced early crossroads with broken leg

"How does he respond to hard coaching? This could ultimately determine Cooper's success in New England, because offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia can drive a hard bargain. One front-office executive described Cooper as the type of player who does better if you put your arm around him, as opposed to coaches ripping into him, so how that dynamic plays out in New England bears watching."


He says Cooper looked like a #7 pick in the games before he broke his leg, but never seemed to mentally recover. Add to that several other more minor injuries and Ariens tried to strong-arm him to performance.

Coaching is more about the mental aspects than the physical - witness Randy Moss. Maybe this is an extremely talented young man desperate for a second chance. Maybe he was a college stud who found himself over his head in the pros and will never recover.

Worth a chance. He was replaced by a Patriots' bust who has carved out a good career since. We see it all the time - Darius Butler, for example.

I agree, though, anything we get from him is gravy (he should certainly be an upgrade over pieces of that line, even in 2015 form)...

So we got a 2nd in 2016 instead of a 3rd in 2017, $2m in cap space, and a year of Chris Long instead of a year of Chandler Jones. So I guess you have to view the grist of this trade as a measure of how great a difference we'll see between those two. I'm not sure it will be that huge. And I doubt Long will be all over the evening news during the playoff bye week, and I expect that Long, who has never had anything but praise for the Patriots, will more likely resign here than Jones would.

 

[Kontradiction]

Looking forward to the new Dion Lewis ...

Hopefully. That would be nice.

Well, if Ross Tucker says so...

Take it for what it's worth. Tucker isn't that bad on NFL radio unless he starts to get all preachy (which is what it sounds like he's doing here).

 

[Sicilian]

Take it for what it's worth. Tucker isn't that bad on NFL radio unless he starts to get all preachy (which is what it sounds like he's doing here).

I know, and in the end he may be completely right. I'm just being snarky.

 

[turkeyneck]

One front-office executive described Cooper as the type of player who does better if you put your arm around him

I'm cautiously liking this trade but this bothers me. I like my Olinemen to have big mean streaks a la Mankins. Guys that need hugs and pats aren't starting off from the right base.

 

[Kontradiction]

I'm cautiously liking this trade but this bothers me. I like my Olinemen to have big mean streaks a la Mankins. Guys that need hugs and pats aren't starting off from the right base.

Maybe we can get Incognito in here to toughen him up.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Maybe we can get Incognito in here to toughen him up.

...another player Goody threw in the ocean tied up to see if he floated or sank

 

[Nunchucks]

No matter how bad he plays, Cooper pretty much immediately competes for a starting position. That is how bad the Patriots OL played last year.

 

[50-yard-line]

I'm cautiously liking this trade but this bothers me. I like my Olinemen to have big mean streaks a la Mankins. Guys that need hugs and pats aren't starting off from the right base.

Coaching style and playing style are not the same thing. He came in, broke his leg, got overwhelmed.

They've got to coax that out of him. This kid was a beast in college - he wasn't drafted 7th as a reach pick. He's got all the physical tools to be special and now he has one year to prove that he might get there.

 

[varjao]

One thing to take note of, is Arizona does not have an Oline coach. Too early to tell of that's a legitimate reason for Cooper's struggles. However, we saw first hand what poor oline coaching can do to the progression of young players on the oline this past season. This is a Scarnecchia and BB project I'm going to pay very close attention to, the pay off if they can build this guy back up to meet his potential is enormous ..

Also, the Cardinals are in a nice run in the past 2 years with Arians/Palmer but they were very dysfunctional before that and that reflects on every aspect of the game and it takes a while to fix. Recently we could get nice performances from players buried in other teams depth chart. If he's healthy I believe the Pats can recover another player.

 

[turkeyneck]

Coaching style and playing style are not the same thing. He came in, broke his leg, got overwhelmed.

They've got to coax that out of him. This kid was a beast in college - he wasn't drafted 7th as a reach pick. He's got all the physical tools to be special and now he has one year to prove that he might get there.

We'll see. I hope Scar can work him up. Like I said, I'm cautiously optimistic. But if breaking a leg caused him to be 'overwhelmed' and the suggestions that he needs coach to be Mom so he feels secure doesn't indicate to me that come the snap of the ball he's suddenly going to Hulk out and want to kill the guy opposite. These signs, admittedly faint, suggest -only suggest - a guy that in college coasted on being physically superior to his opposition, arrived in the NFL to find that was no longer the case, and hasn't added the technique and attitude that are needed for an edge at this level.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Also, the Cardinals are in a nice run in the past 2 years with Arians/Palmer but they were very dysfunctional before that and that reflects on every aspect of the game and it takes a while to fix. Recently we could get nice performances from players buried in other teams depth chart. If he's healthy I believe the Pats can recover another player.

Cooper was drafted in Year 1 of the Arians regime. The scouting dept might not have been in alignment with the pro personnel and coaching staff just yet.

For those that say AZ does not have an OL coach, they have an assistant OL coach in Larry Zierlein so its not like they left Cooper alone and told him to figure it out. He did get some coaching there and with AZ being one of the better teams in the NFL these last 3 years I'm not sure I'd completely point the finger at them and say they don't know what they are doing over there.