SCHAD: Amari Cooper & “The Teddy Complex”

SCHAD: Amari Cooper & “The Teddy Complex”

Photo By Brian Curski

Written By Chris Schad

Being a scout in the National Football League can’t be one of the easiest jobs somebody would rattle off the top of their head. As a right hand man to a general manager, the scout does the dirty work by going across the country to watch football games to tell whether a prospective player has enough talent to be a part of their team.

As many armchair scouts stand up and scream “What are you talking about?” you have to consider the immense pressure that a scout faces. A swing and a miss on a first-round pick could set the franchise back several years (see Christian Ponder) or cost everybody in close proximity their employment status.

Coming into the excessive three-month build for this year’s NFL Draft, scouts looking for a wide receiver are at a crossroads. Amari Cooper has been considered by many as the top pass catcher in this year’s class, but as Kevin White and DeVante Parker begin their workouts, words like “massive upside” and “high ceiling” are being tossed around while Cooper has been knocked down the totem pole.

How is it possible for a prospect to lose their top stature without playing a down of football? It’s a simple phenomenon known as “The Teddy Complex.”

A year ago, Teddy Bridgewater found himself in a similar situation. Over the course of the 2013 season, “Tank for Teddy” campaigns were being tossed across the NFL as teams struggled with the likes of Ponder, Brandon Weeden and Blaine Gabbert under center. After throttling Miami in the Russell Athletic Bowl, the Bridgewater hype train was in full stride — until the offseason began.

Suddenly, Blake Bortles was the top quarterback in the class while Johnny Manziel seemed to have every general manager tossing out the same words that are being thrown toward White and Parker right now. They began to stick their noses up at Bridgewater with thoughts of him being nothing more than a game manager.

Think about it … a quarterback who just wins games? Who wants that?

It’s the simple issue that scouts have had in trying to find the next building block of their franchise. Instead of going for the solid pick that can solidify a position for the next decade, scouts want to find the next top player at their position in fear of becoming the trivia answer in a barstool conversation…

“Hey, remember when the 49ers took Alex Smith instead of Aaron Rodgers?”

Scouts are currently killing themselves with oversimplification while teams like the Vikings are beginning to capitalize on their whiffs. In the past couple years alone, Rick Spielman has acquired Shariff Floyd, Xavier Rhodes and (of course) Bridgewater, all of whom were top ten picks at the beginning of their evaluation processes but fell into the second half of the first round.

The Teddy Complex could once again play into the Vikings favor in the instance of Cooper. As one of the most dominant receivers in the country at Alabama, Cooper has displayed a solid all-around game but doesn’t have the flash that White and Parker have shown on tape.

That shouldn’t be a deterrent for the Vikings, who already have their “monster upside” stash in Cordarrelle Patterson. Despite a terrible 2014 season, Patterson still has the potential to grasp Norv Turner’s offense in Year 3 while opening things up for other receivers across the field. If the light bulb turns on, Cooper’s reliability would be a blessing and a steal for the Vikings at 11.

There’s plenty of time left in the draft process, but history has shown that the Vikings know value when they see it. If Cooper continues to fall as the process plays out, there’s a good chance that he’ll be reunited with his high school quarterback in a revamped passing attack in Minnesota.