Amari Cooper vs Ja'Marr Chase: The Full Breakdown
Amari Cooper and Ja'Marr Chase are both viable fantasy wide receivers heading into 2026, but their 2025 production tells two different stories. Amari Cooper averaged 11.2 PPG across 16 games with the Buffalo Bills, while Ja'Marr Chase posted 15.7 PPG in 16 appearances for the Cincinnati Bengals.
A 4.5-PPG gap gives Ja'Marr Chase the edge on paper, but paper does not account for Thursday night matchups, weather games, or a star defender returning from injury. The real question is not who was better in 2025, but who is the better start this specific week.
Target volume is the story here. Ja'Marr Chase saw 185 targets in 2025, while Amari Cooper drew 95. That workload gap usually translates into a higher weekly floor for Ja'Marr Chase, even in weeks where Amari Cooper posts the bigger ceiling game. Consistency-minded managers lean toward target share; boom-bust managers chase the upside.
Amari Cooper has his bye in Week 12, and Ja'Marr Chase rests in Week 6. Managers rostering both need waiver wire depth at wide receiver for those two weeks, and that is exactly the kind of planning DraftCall's matchup engine surfaces automatically so you are not scrambling on a Sunday morning.
