The Browns started five different quarterbacks last year, which is almost always a death sentence for the fantasy prospects of wide receivers within those offenses. While Amari Cooper didn’t necessarily excel with every signal caller to take a snap for Cleveland in 2023, his splits by quarterback paint an encouraging picture for the upcoming season with Deshaun Watson presumably under center in 2024.
Of course, we all remember Cooper opening a 50-point can of whoopass in the fantasy playoffs and averaging 23.1 PPR points per game in four games with Joe Flacco from Weeks 13-17, but you might be surprised to find that Cooper’s target and air yards shares (23.6% and 37.4%) with Flacco were very comparable to five games with Deshaun Watson under center (22.8% and 41.9%). The same goes for his per-game fantasy production, with Cooper averaging 17.6 PPR points per game with Watson – a number that would have ranked as the WR8 over the course of the full 2023 season. In those nine games combined with Flacco and Watson at QB, Cooper averaged 0.27 targets per route run, 107.2 receiving yards, and 20.1 PPR points per game, while also scoring all five of his touchdowns on the season.
In eight other games with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J. Walker? Those numbers plummeted to 0.22 targets per route run, 47.5 receiving yards, and 7.9 PPR points per game. The bottom line is that Cooper needs only a serviceable starter at QB to get the job done – both Flacco and Watson had PFF passing grades over 66.0, while DTR and P.J. Walker both sported sub-50.0 grades in the same category. Flacco is out the door in 2024, but a full regular season (and offseason) for Cooper and Watson to refine their connection could help to boost what are already very good numbers between the QB and WR in their second year together.