Raiders WR Amari Cooper looks to solve issue of dropped balls

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Amari Cooper ran a 5-yard in route Wednesday when it happened again.

The wide receiver turned his body inside to adjust to a Derek Carr pass. Cooper did not extend his hands far enough away from his body, and the football clamored off them, rolling a few feet away. Cooper walked over, grabbed the dropped ball with his left hand and tossed it to an assistant with his right.

He jogged forward and lowered his head.

This is what practice is for.

Cooper, a two-time Pro Bowler and explosive element of the Raiders’ offense, has yet to fully ignite in three games. His hands largely have been the issue, which arose Sunday on a third-down drop during a 27-10 loss to the Washington Redskins. But there is optimism.

Cooper knows he can fix the problem; he did last year.

And he believes he knows the culprit.

“Obviously, I like to look back on them and see how I dropped the ball and try to fix it,” Cooper said before Wednesday’s practice. “Most of the balls that I’ve dropped have been the result of trying to run before I catch the ball. … It can be a little frustrating, but you just have to go and fix it.”

Pro Football Focus, a subscription stat service, tracks such data as dropped passes.

It credited Cooper with an NFL-high 18 drops as a rookie. Last season, he improved to drop four of 87 catchable passes. The issue appeared well behind him, not a noticeable element of his training camp this summer. Granted, the 23-year-old missed several practices to a knee ailment, but again, there was little indication the problem would resurface.

On Sunday, he failed to control a third-and-9 pass in traffic. The ball shot through his hands and struck the crown of his helmet.

Cooper has six drops on 16 catchable passes this season, according to PFF. The drop rate of 37.5 percent is the highest in the NFL among receivers who have been targeted on at least 10 such throws. Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Marqise Lee is second with three drops on 14 targets (21.4 percent).

Coach Jack Del Rio said Wednesday he thinks there’s nothing he can say to offer remedy.

“If I felt like I could talk my way through it, I’d be yapping all over the place,” Del Rio said. “It’s not something I can talk my way through. He’s just going to have to make the catch, do the work. I believe in him. I believe he will. To me, he’s one of our dynamic playmakers, and we need him to make plays, and he will.”

The Denver Broncos are preparing for that Cooper.

Coach Vance Joseph said in a conference call Wednesday that he’s seen players who have struggled with drops one week and snapped out of it the next. A return to dominant form will be easier said than done against arguably the league’s top secondary. Cooper averages the fewest yards per game (35.5) against Denver than any other NFL opponent that he’s faced multiple times.

In four career games, he has 14 catches for 142 yards and one score.

“Watching him in college and watching him as a pro, he’s got one of the best stop-and-start abilities that I’ve ever seen,” Joseph said of Cooper’s route running. “He’s got great feet and good ball skills. He’s obviously a young player with a bright future that you have to have a plan to contain. If you don’t, he will hurt you.

“As he catches the ball, you better get him on the ground, because if not, he can make guys miss also. He reminds me of Jarvis Landry, who I was with in Miami last year, but with more speed. That’s scary for us.”

Cooper jumped back into a drill Wednesday a few moments after his practice drop.

He caught a slant route in stride the way he and the Raiders know he consistently can.

Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.