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Dynasty Spotlight - TE Chris Cooley Washington Redskins

General Info

6'3", 265 lbs. 22 years old
Utah State.

Cooley was drafted 81st overall in 2004 by Washington. He was the 6th TE selected, and Washington passed on Kellen Winslow with the 5th overall pick. He's currently #3 on the Redskin depth chart for TEs, behind Rasby and Kozlowski. The Redskins will also experiment using Cooley as their H-back this year.

Will Grant's Thoughts

2004 Outlook

Despite Byron Chamberlain returning to Denver, and Zeron Flemister being an unrestricted free agent, Cooley does not step into the #1 tight end slot on the Redskins depth chart. Walter Rasby returns from New Orleans, and Washington added Brian Kozlowski from Atlanta to fill in the needs at TE. As a rookie tight end, who is #3-4 on the depth chart of a team with solid WR talent, Cooley's 2004 outlook is pretty grim. If you're looking for immediate help from a rookie TE this year, you might what to check out that Winslow kid from Cleveland.

2007 Outlook

Cooley's 2007 outlook is only slightly better than his outlook for 2004. Rasby is entering his 11th NFL season, and Kozlowski is entering his 12th. Both will probably be gone by 2007. This should give Cooley the starting job by that time. The problem for him is that this team has a very deep WR squad with Coles, Gardner, Jacobs, Thrash, and McCants. These guys will be the preferred targets when Washington isn't running the ball with newly acquired RB Clinton Portis. Cooley might be able to steal a catch or two, or snag a redzone TD once in awhile, but he will never really be the main focus of this offense.

Cooley has good size, and soft hands. He can also be used as a fullback or H-Back and had a few rushing attempts and 1 TD in college. If he can adjust his game to the NFL, he should be a nice underneath threat, but he lacks the speed to run the deep routes. As the feature TE of the Washington offense, he might be worth having on your fantasy team. However, unless the Redskins significantly rework their offense, or show a tendency to look to Cooley in the redzone, he won't be anything more than a backup.

Final Thoughts

Cooley is going to compete for catches with one of the deepest group of wide receivers in the league. He might steal a few carries as the H-Back, but Cooley should not be counted on to provide any useful fantasy impact for at least a year or two.

Mike Anderson's Thoughts

2004 OUTLOOK

Washington TE Chris Cooley is part of a three-man battle at H-back with veterans TE Mike Sellers and FB Brian Kozlowski. The winner of this battle is going to be the starter, and drift off into Fantasy obscurity. Redskins new (old) Head Coach Joe Gibbs has never used the TE/H-back as part of his attack. Lets look at the position under the last 6 years of Gibb's tenure:

  • 1992 Terry Orr 22 receptions, 356 yards, 3 TDs
  • 1991 Terry Orr 10 receptions, 201 yards, 1 TD
  • 1990 Don Warren 15 receptions, 123 yards, 1 TD
  • 1989 Don Warren 15 receptions, 167 yards, 1 TD
  • 1988 Craig McEwen 23 receptions, 323 yards, 0 TDs
  • 1987 Clint Didier 12 receptions, 178 yards, 1 TD

Looking at all 12 years in the Gibb's era, the best season for a TE was in 1986 by Clint Didier with 34 receptions, 691 yards, and 4 TDs.

The average production of the best TE on the team during Gibb's 12 seasons? 23 receptions, 308 yards, and 2 TDs. Please keep in mind that this is in the middle of multiple Super Bowl runs, when a player's stats should be heightened, and the Redskins were on top of the world. Think about the TE stats if the Redskins are just an average or poor team going forward. That is not the making of a fantasy stud. Not only does Joe Gibbs not use the position as a weapon, he rotates his TEs in and out, spreading any possible numbers too far out to be useful in fantasy football.

Perhaps Cooley wins the starting job. Let's go ahead and assume that he does. Even with the starting job, he is in a system that doesn't allow him to be a starter for any fantasy league in any scoring format.

If you really think about it, the worst thing that could have happened to fantasy owners is if the Redskins did draft TE Kellen Winslow as many were predicting. One of the reasons the Redskins must have passed is that Gibbs doesn't put any weight in the position as an offensive weapon.

2007 OUTLOOK

By 2007, Cooley will be the main TE in the Gibbs rotation. Joe Gibbs has always platooned his TEs, never having any one of them put up the numbers necessary to start for a fantasy squad. Expect more of the same. Cooley is looking at 25 receptions, 300 yards, and a couple of TDs a year over the course of his career.

Final Thoughts

TE Chris Cooley should have a fine NFL career, and maybe be useful as a bye week fantasy starter over the years.


Quotations from the Message Board Thread

To view the Entire Message Board Thread, click here.

WinningisEverything:
'For drafting purposes, I would not draft him unless you are in a dynasty with DEEP rosters (4+ TE) and you can stash him for a couple of years.'

Nittanylion:
'I think it's safe to assume that even IF Cooley 'is all he can be', he'll wind up with #'s somewhere in between. Three years down the road, assuming Gibbs is still there, or a protégé is running the team, with Gibbs still on board as Team President, I still can't see his #'s going much higher than this. In leagues larger than 12 teams, or those that allow formations utilizing 2 TE's he might be a plug in starter, but the reality of the Redskins offense in the Joe Gibbs mold, the position he'd ideally fill is simply not that glamorous, and even on the best days, there are not enough balls to go around for him to develop into much beyond that, at least that's what I think.'

Redman:
'I too think Cooley is a reasonable facsimile to [Clint] Didier, the "receiving TE" of Gibbs' 80's teams - frankly Cooley may even end up being better than Didier. But please note that Didier's career highs in Gibbs offenses were: 41/691/5 (which would have ranked #3 in 2003), and none of those highs occurred in the same season. The highest Didier ever ranked among TE's was 5th, and he never ranked any higher than 15th in any other year.'

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