Johnathan Cooper--On Notice?

[TJ]

Arians did not have fond words today for the LG we all penciled in to be a dominant force on the line:

Bruce Arians isn’t exactly sparse with praise. He’ll hand it out when he deems it necessary, but it’s not like pulling teeth like some coaches. So you hear him talk about guard Jonathan Cooper and it raises a flag. Arians said Cooper needs to raise his level of play. “I’m a little disappointed with where Coop is at right now,” Arians said. “I’d hope he come a little faster.”
Now, Arians does say it’s about rust with Cooper, who missed all of last season with his broken leg. But he needs to start playing better. Arians also said he wants Earl Watford — who needs to be able to play both guard spots to be able to dress Sundays — to be able to push Cooper. Given that Cooper was the seventh overall pick last year, that’s a very big deal. The Cardinals need Cooper to play and play well. Sooner rather than later.

http://blog.azcardinals.com/2014/08/02/little-disappointed-in-cooper/


I also found the comments about Watford "challenging" Cooper to be interesting (not that I think he's going to supplant Cooper on the depth chart).

I expected it would take some time for him to come along, but not this long. If he's lagging in any department, it will pose a problem for pass protection, which is sorely needed if Palmer is to improve upon his numbers from 2013.

I don't think we should be at DEFCON 1 yet, but we ought to keep an eye on this moving forward.

 

[BigRedRage]

not the first time ive heard rumblings that he is not having a good camp. They said he was still limping in minicamp and that is gone now as well.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Troubling...

 

[NMCard]

Gets a ton of love for not having done anything when it matters in the NFL. Hopefully the Cards staff can get him pointed in the right direction.

 

[TJ]

Watford and Cooper splitting first string reps at practice today, apparently.

BA's not fooling around.


Message sent.

 

[CtCardinals78]

I'm not worried Cooper will be fine. Just a move to get him back to where he needs to be.

 

[kerouac9]

Watford, keep in mind, was clearly inferior to Fanika throughout the offseason and into camp.

Fanika is a sub-average offensive lineman, to be charitable.

What a freaking mess.

 

[ARZCardinals]

Arians is seeing what is....Coop isn't what he was. Players lose the edge having a year off with injury. He may never be what he was....

 

[RugbyMuffin]

What a buzzkill.

 

[PJ1]

What a buzzkill.

No kidding. Having Cooper back was supposed to be good news.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

That is pathetic! Needing to be pushed by a scrub? What the H!?

 

[Redneck Voodoo]

What a buzzkill.

Yeah, this.

 

[MadCardDisease]

At practice on Friday I saw nothing to suggest that Cooper was struggling. He looked to be moving really well and on the few plays where I keyed on him he didn't get beat.

I didn't key on Watford so I can't comment on his progress.

I can say that Bobbie Massie looked 100x better than when he did at camp one year ago.

 

[Billy Bob]

I'm not worried, Cooper will be all that soon enough!

 

[b8rtm8nn]

Not too worried either, but wouldn't be surprised if he didn't play at 100% mentally and physically until after the season is in progress. Such is the life of a young, professional athlete.

 

[Jim Otis]

It seems to be human nature for a player to have some jitters when returning from a serious injury . Some PS games should be just the thing to ease those jitters , by the season opener he should be hitting on all cylinders .

 

[Dr. Jones]

BA wasn't even asked about Coop. He just offered up his name. Interesting tactic on his part.

Hopefully it pays off.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm actually surprised that people are surprised about Cooper. The thing that made Cooper "special" was his athleticism at that size. The guy is coming off a broken leg, it's pretty resaonable to assume IMO that it's going to take him awhile to get back to that level of athleticism.

If he were a 5 year veteran with tons of experience maybe you could expect him to be savvy enough to makeup for some lost athleticism in other ways but he's effectively a rookie.

I wish he had been further along in his recovery but he's a big guy coming off a broken leg you can't rush that. The book on him was always he was a big guy who was a great athlete so when he finally figured it all out, look out.

 

[kerouac9]

I'm actually surprised that people are surprised about Cooper. The thing that made Cooper "special" was his athleticism at that size. The guy is coming off a broken leg, it's pretty resaonable to assume IMO that it's going to take him awhile to get back to that level of athleticism.

If he were a 5 year veteran with tons of experience maybe you could expect him to be savvy enough to makeup for some lost athleticism in other ways but he's effectively a rookie.

I wish he had been further along in his recovery but he's a big guy coming off a broken leg you can't rush that. The book on him was always he was a big guy who was a great athlete so when he finally figured it all out, look out.

Nonsense. He had a 10 week injury nearly a year ago. It's a broken leg, not an ACL or an Achilles. Who never recovers from a broken leg?

 

[82CardsGrad]

Watford, keep in mind, was clearly inferior to Fanika throughout the offseason and into camp.

Fanika is a sub-average offensive lineman, to be charitable.

What a freaking mess.

They somehow won 10 games last season without Veldheer and Cooper...
Chill out buddy. Let BA & Co do their thing!

 

[jbeecham]

Anybody going up against Calias Campbell every day is going to look bad quite often.

 

[Garthshort]

I understand BA's strategy, but to say that Watford is pushing him, imo, is a stretch. A huge stretch. As we all know Watford couldn't even beat out Paul Fanaika for a starting job.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

I'm not worried Cooper will be fine. Just a move to get him back to where he needs to be.

I'm not worried, Cooper will be all that soon enough!

Not too worried either, but wouldn't be surprised if he didn't play at 100% mentally and physically until after the season is in progress. Such is the life of a young, professional athlete.

I'm pretty sure I could have taken these quotes from 2011-13 Ryan Williams threads.

 

[Reddog]

I understand BA's strategy, but to say that Watford is pushing him, imo, is a stretch. A huge stretch. As we all know Watford couldn't even beat out Paul Fanaika for a starting job.

I heard from Levi Brown that Watford is elite.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Nonsense. He had a 10 week injury nearly a year ago. It's a broken leg, not an ACL or an Achilles. Who never recovers from a broken leg?

I agree. From what I saw of Cooper he was moving really well out there. Couldn't see any sign that he was hampered by the old injury. If Cooper truly is having problems it's all mental. Again I didn't see anything at the Friday practice to suggest that he was struggling.