It’s every football fan’s favorite time of year: When all they can do is scroll social media and read way, way too deeply into eight-second clips of players working out or running drills.
Nonetheless, there are ways to wade through the noise and unearth some real takeaways.
A flashy one-handed catch in shorts against no defenders, particularly if it is displayed over blaring music in an edited highlight reel on Instagram, doesn’t mean anything. But if you know what to hone in on, there are certain drills that can yield legitimate insights into a player’s technique and fundamentals.
New York Jets rookie Omar Cooper Jr. is receiving widespread praise in the right type of way for a mid-May practice clip.
This past week, the 30th overall pick of the 2026 NFL draft strapped on a Jets helmet for the first time at rookie minicamp in Florham Park. In one viral clip, which has been viewed over 167,000 times as of this writing, Cooper displays phenomenal smoothness as he executes a stop-and-go route-running drill.
His execution of the drill drew some real praise from knowledgeable analysts on social media, including wide receiver trainer Cam White (@RouteUniverse9), who pointed out, “Notice how Omar is consistently sinking his hips and not reaching outside of his frame. That’s exactly how you create clean and efficient breaks.”
While a practice clip in May should be taken with a grain of salt so small that it requires a transmission electron microscope to see, it’s encouraging for Jets fans to witness Cooper displaying high-level fundamentals in the route-running department.
Coming into the NFL, Cooper’s calling card is his playmaking with the ball in his hands. Often drawing comparisons to Deebo Samuel, Cooper is a player who has a high floor in the NFL when it comes to making defenders miss and playing through contact.
The separation department is home to some of Cooper’s greatest concerns at the NFL level. Can he separate consistently enough to be relied upon for a high volume of targets? This is the question that dropped him to the late-first round despite his outstanding playmaking and production for the 2025 national champions.
For that reason, Jets fans should be excited to see Cooper showing progress as a route runner, even if it’s only in a short clip from practice.
After all, as much as people say these clips are meaningless, we know that those same people would be criticizing Cooper if his route-running looked poor in a practice clip, right? If nothing else, that’s a plenty viable reason for fans to feel good about what Cooper showed in his short time on the field this past week.
