Eagles wideout Riley Cooper better than you think

EVERY LOST season needs its pariahs.

Every pariah needs a defender.

Fairly or not, the scapegoated Eagles of 2014 forever will be cornerback Bradley Fletcher and receiver Riley Cooper.

Fletcher's knack for getting burned prompted the Eagles to cut ties with him (though the Super Bowl-champion Patriots found him worthy of a roster spot). Cooper, however, will return, the veteran presence on a wet-eared receiving corps . . . for better or worse.

Cooper's breakout 2013 season raised expectations and got him a big raise, but his unremarkable 2014 season brought into question his presence on Chip Kelly's ever-fluid roster.

Receivers coach Bob Bicknell is Cooper's most articulate defender to date. Bicknell somewhat testily stressed that game tapes consistently showed that Cooper's committed route running and his outstanding blocking, especially in the running game, added value hidden from the uneducated eyes of the common man.

"I just feel like he went out and graded the way he should grade," Bicknell said. "There were a couple of plays he could have made. He knows that. We know that . . . I grade it the way I grade it."

In 2013, after Jeremy Maclin was lost to a knee injury in training camp, Bicknell helped turn Cooper, a 6-4, 230-pound specimen, into a breakout threat.

Cooper caught 47 passes for 835 yards and eight touchdowns. Cooper had caught 46 passes for five touchdowns in his first three seasons combined. His 17.8 yards per catch in 2013 ranked third in the league.

On the strength of that season the Eagles re-signed Cooper to a 5-year, $22 million contract with $8 million guaranteed.

In 2014, Cooper caught 55 passes but managed just 577 yards, a 10.5 average, with only three touchdowns - a clear dip in production, no?

"What is production?" Bicknell asked.

A casual NBA fan at best, Bicknell offered the following analogy:

"When I watch a basketball game, I only watch the guy who scored. I don't worry about how he played defense. I am not going to watch the things that aren't as much fun to watch," Bicknell said. "We have a very good run game because of a lot of things [Cooper] can do on the perimeter. We have a very good passing game, sometimes because he is running so fast through the defense that other guys are open.

"There's no way to fight what people think is production or is not production. I can tell you I've done this for a long time. I work really hard at my craft. When I look at the tape, I say, 'OK, that's what we wanted him to do on that play.' "

Of course, no two teams are identical.

The 2013 edition of the Eagles featured an outstanding offensive line that started every game intact. Backup quarterback Nick Foles enjoyed a breakout season, too. The team featured DeSean Jackson, the league's most fearsome deep threat, across the field from Cooper.

In 2014, injury and a suspension unsettled the line all year. Foles missed half the season with an injury and was replaced by Jets punchline Mark Sanchez. The Eagles cut Jackson and started Maclin across from Cooper.

Pshaw, said Bicknell:

"It had nothing to do with quarterbacks, or anything being settled or unsettled. None of that had anything to do with anything."

However, Bicknell allowed that Cooper did benefit from the Eagles' tendency in 2013 to go deep at the end zone. Cooper caught touchdown passes of 32, 45, 47 and 63 yards. Last year's were 3, 9 and 16 yards.

"There were a few touchdowns [in 2013] that were just heave-ho touchdowns that he caught," Bicknell said.

Also, whereas Jason Avant managed just 38 catches and two scores in 2013, the Eagles let Avant go and drafted a rookie threat for the slot in 2014 who caught 67 passes, eight for touchdowns.

"Jordan Matthews came in and took some of [Cooper's] touchdowns," Bicknell said. "That's the reality of what happens."

Bicknell insisted that Cooper's reality has little to do with the public's perception.

"If there's 70 plays in a game and you catch five passes for 85 yards, everyone's going to say, 'Hey, your fantasy numbers are great,' " Bicknell said. "Well, if you didn't block anybody, or ran some routes where you're not really running to open up somebody else, well, I'm not grading you [well]. Riley goes out, he plays as hard as he can, he blocks his butt off.

"Truthfully, I thought Riley did a good job."