:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51293419/167510366.0.jpg)
This past week in The Sunday Five, I said that I’d be eager on Monday to see if the Cleveland Browns decided to claim either CB Bene Benwikere (formerly of the Panthers) or OL Jonathan Cooper (formerly of the Cardinals/Patriots). According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Miami Dolphins ended up claiming Benwikere, but Cleveland nabbed Cooper:
Former #Panthers CB Bene Benwikere was awarded to the #Dolphins off waivers, source said. Where you’d expect.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 10, 2016
Former #Panthers CB Bene Benwikere was awarded to the #Dolphins off waivers, source said. Where you’d expect.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 10, 2016
Cooper was the 7th overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. He missed his entire rookie year with a broken leg and was a part-time starter the next two years before being traded to the Patriots this offseason. New England released him this past Saturday after he was finally ready to return from an ankle injury. Before Arizona traded him, they toyed with moving him to center.
Cooper has been a bust given his draft position, but Hue Jackson and company must have been intrigued enough by the former top pick to give him a shot. There is no reason to think he’ll enter the starting lineup any time soon, but if he progresses as the season goes along, it gives the team some more options.