The Panthers came into 2020’s free agency period needing some serious help at wide receiver. They’ve now signed three of them in just the last few days, beginning with Seth Roberts on Wednesday and continuing with Keith Kirkwood yesterday.
The third new receiver is Pharoh Cooper, who has been signed to a one-year deal according to the official team website.
Cooper (5-foot-11, 208 pounds) played his college football at South Carolina and then get picked by the Rams in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft. Since then, he’s played 31 games for LA, 14 for the Cardinals and one with the Bengals. So far, Cooper has caught 50 of 73 targets, totaling 433 yards and one touchdown.
It’s nice to have more depth at wide receiver. However, Cooper’s true value is on special teams, as he’s one of the better return specialists in the NFL. He has extensive experience with both punts and kickoffs. He’s returned 62 punts so far for a total of 612 yards (including a career high of 53). On kickoffs, he’s posted a remarkble 2,093 yards and a touchdown on 86 attempts.
This fills a big need for Carolina’s special teams unit, which struggled awfully last year. Cooper easily projects as the team’s top kick returner.
