It started with the name, then the nickname “Captain Chaos” and the personality that came with it. His performance on the field has been great, but it’s 2011 and his time with the Washington Redskins should be over. Youth, injuries, declining statistics and Fred Davis are all reasons #47 should be traded soon.
Mike Shanahan is going young, across the board, and although Cooley is still a high level performer, he is often injured and doesn’t really fit the young direction the team is headed. Once the final roster is settled, the average age of the team will be about 27 years of age on both sides of the ball. Cooley is 29, and although that’s not old, he is firmly in the prime of his career with only a few good years left.
Cooley is in his 8th year and throughout his first 4 years, he averaged 6.5 TD’s per year, while in the last 3 years he’s caught a total of 6. Who knows, maybe Joe Gibbs was the only one who knew how to utilize him best, but the fact is that those numbers are shocking.
Making matters worse is the fact that he’s starting to have real injury concerns and once you start breaking down in your prime, it becomes harder and harder to come back. Cooley has missed 10 games over the last 2 years and that number is realistically going to rise this year. He’s come into camp this year after having offseason surgery on a torn meniscus and there are still problems with his knee. He recently went to see Dr. James Andrews and that’s never a good sign. As Mike Shanahan said the other day on Cooley, “There is concern. The knee is sore. He’s getting treatment and hopefully he keeps getting better.” There’s obvious concern in that statement.
The Redskins have added 2 tight ends since Cooley’s injury in Derek Schouman and Tony Curtis. That puts 7 TE’s on the roster and it’s clear to me that the Redskins organization is very concerned about the long-term issues with Cooley’s health.
Even when Cooley comes back healthy, he’s going to have to fight for playing time with Fred Davis, who is finally starting to emerge in his 3rd year. Davis has lost about 15 pounds in the offseason and is having a terrific camp. As Rex Grossman put it, "Fred totally understands what he's supposed to do on every play and how to run routes. He's so fast. It's just a matter of time before he's a breakout star in this league." Mike Shanahan agreed, stating “Fred's always taken it seriously. He's had a heck of a camp. He came in, in excellent shape. ... Sometimes guys should take off a few pounds, and Fred was in that category." All indications are that he’s on the fast track for a breakout season, and if Cooley starts and plays a majority of snaps it would hinder Davis’ growth, unless the Redskins start using more 2 TE sets. I haven’t even mentioned Logan Paulsen, who has proved that he is more than capable as a serviceable, and more importantly blocking, TE as well.
Cooley is the one player on the Redskins whose trade value is still high around the league. The Redskins need to get him healthy and deal him. It’s as simple as that. Fred Davis is a budding superstar and Cooley just doesn’t fit with the whole youth movement in DC. Time to move on and get what you can while the value is still high.
~JT
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