Omar Cooper Jr. Camp Update — August 31: Caught the Two-Minute Drill Touchdown

The week's best Omar Cooper Jr. moment came under the most pressure a practice can generate. In Monday's session, Geno Smith capped a two-minute drill with a touchdown to the rookie receiver, per the team's practice report from Amanda Vogt and Eric Allen — and Aaron Glenn called that practice "the hardest practice" of his head-coaching tenure for the situational work involved. A two-minute-drill touchdown from the starting quarterback, in the practice the head coach graded hardest, is the kind of rep the spring hype claimed Cooper would earn. The next day he was one of three receivers the team's report named as Smith's favorite targets, with four receptions to Adonai Mitchell's six and Garrett Wilson's five.

The reporting later in the week went further. Nick Faria at Jets on SI, in a piece dated August 20-sixth, wrote that Cooper has shrugged off his position battle with veteran Isaiah Williams, put his preseason at three catches for 40 yards, and had both the head coach and the quarterback on the record. Glenn: "I'm not surprised at the plays that he made in the game, and I know they're limited, but he's made some plays. His personality and type of player he is... that's just going to happen anyways because he's not going to be the guy that sits back and not do the things to help himself get better." Smith: "I think Omar is a guy who came in right away and has been a true professional. He studies; he works... he's a guy who I think is going to continue to get better every single day."

Cut day then cleared the ground beneath him. Cooper's name appears nowhere on the team's complete August thirtieth transaction page, which counts six receivers on the initial 53, while the four August names below him — Quincy Skinner Jr., Junior Bergen, Malik McClain and Cam Camper — were all waived, per Eric Allen and Amanda Vogt at the team's site. Isaiah Williams is not on that page either — so whatever ground Cooper has gained on him, he did not gain it by subtraction.

The prior episode asked whether Cooper's first-team share would hold in the preseason finale — unanswerable as posed, because the Jets played it with most of their starters on the sideline and there was no first-team offense for his share to hold. The substitute answer is better than the question. Eight days ago the evidence on Cooper was about where he lined up, not what he caught; the June preview had refused to project him at all, naming usage as the first honest test. This week the file added a touchdown from the starter, a practice-target count, a preseason catch line, and a veteran competitor he is reported to have shrugged off. The arrow that pointed up eight days ago points up harder now. We'll see what a real target chart says when the games count.

_Data via nflverse._