Raiders legend Tim Brown on Amari Cooper slump: Gruden ‘will get that fixed’

The entirety of Raider Nation wants to see Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper find his pro bowl caliber form that eluded him during his third NFL season. In each of Cooper’s first two seasons, he eclipsed 70 receptions and 1,000 receiving yards yet Cooper tallied just 48 receptions for 680 yards last season.

Without a game in the books, some have labeled Jon Gruden as the Amari Cooper whisperer. One of Gruden’s former Hall of Fame wide receivers, Tim Brown, seems to be on the same wavelength.

Brown believes surrounding Gruden can bring the best out of Cooper, as he said in an interview on Monday with Andrew Siciliano on the NFL Network’s Up to the Minute.

“Look, Jon Gruden, he will get that fixed,” Brown told Siciliano. “This is a guy that knows all of those tricks of the trade. He’s been with all the great receivers in the league. I don’t think this is going to be an issue at all. Amari is going to be put in an incredible position to catch 100 balls year one in this offense and I think that it’ll get done.”

Brown said similar last January at Gruden’s introductory press conference, where our own Levi Damien caught up with the legendary Raiders receiver.

“If he can’t, nobody can,” Brown told Damien. “There’s no doubt about it. I think for Amari this is going to be an incredible opportunity for him to 120-125 catches per year without any no problem. If he can stay healthy.”

Again, Brown referenced Cooper hauling in over 100 receptions, 17 more than his career best, which would mean Cooper not only recovered from last year’s slump but improved on his first and second seasons.

After playing during Gruden’s first reign in Oakland, Brown has seen firsthand how Gruden’s demanding expectations will manifest itself in greater production on the field.

“The one thing I love about Jon is when we stepped on the field we knew we were prepared,” Brown told Damien. “If we lost, we lost. . . but it wasn’t because we had a bad game plan or we didn’t have a clue what was going to happen, we lost because we got beat physically.”

Every Raider, including Cooper, will be sharper mentally. It will be tough, but each receiver will be expected to know more about NFL defenses and have greater precision running routes than they have had in the past.

And because of the greater attention to detail, Cooper will be put in the best situation possible to not just bounce back but explode onto the NFL scene once again.