Jim O’Connor-USA TODAY Sports
Let’s be real. If Philadelphia Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin didn’t suffer a tragic, season-ending ACL tear just a week ago, then WR Riley Cooper would have been cut almost immediately after the recent release of a video containing the receiver’s ignorant and moronic use of an all-too familiar racial slur.
While some of Cooper’s teammates on the Eagles, and former teammates at the University of Florida, have quickly accepted Cooper’s half-hearted Twitter apology, I feel that the video footage showed that the young wide-out is truly a different person than he has portrayed previously.
The violent and angry way in which he used the word, towards a member of the race in which it horribly offends, was the most shocking and appalling part of the whole ordeal.
And please do not even try to contend that the upsetting commonality of the slur around the nation has anything to do with Cooper’s aggressive usage. His intentions in saying the word were not playful or comical in any manner; instead they were incredibly cruel and seemingly passionate.
If Maclin’s season-ending injury, and an early setback for Eagles newly-acquired WR Arrelious Benn, didn’t occur, then the Birds would have no reason to hang onto the looming distraction that Cooper is already becoming.
While Eagles WRs DeSean Jackson, Jason Avant and Damaris Johnson are healthy and eager to lead the Philly’s receiving unit, the only true depth behind them is Cooper, Benn (if available) and rookie sky-scraper WR Ifeanyi Momah.
But in the end, I think that the incredible burden that Cooper has placed upon head coach Chip Kelly and the entire Eagles’ organization will grow too heavy, and the Birds will ax the receiver before the 2013 NFL regular-season kicks off.
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