This past offseason the Philadelphia Eagles decided to sign wide receiver Riley Cooper (who was coming off both a career year as well as an offseason of controversy) to a five-year/$22 million dollar deal. Still, since signing the deal, Cooper's playing time has dropped from 90% of his team's snaps to 75%. When asked about why he wasn't on the field more Cooper said "Maclin's trying to get a contract so he's probably not going to try and come out of the game," referring to teammate and fellow wideout Jeremy Maclin (who's currently on a one-year/$6 million dollar deal). Maclin, for the record, is having a career year and is currently seventh in the NFL in receiving yards with 980.
So how did Maclin feel about Cooper's comments (which Cooper later claimed were a joke)? "That was not a very smart thing for Coop to say," also adding that the assertion was false. Perhaps trying to avoid any sort of controversy, Cooper clarified "I'm supposed to sub every four, five plays and that's what I do," before stating the obvious "Maclin, I guess, is a lot better player than me, so he doesn't have to."
Obviously dude doesn't want anymore off the field attention, but commenting on a teammate's contract situation? Eh, it's hard to knock somebody who's mad about that.
[via NFL.com]
