In a surprise Saturday roster move, the Patriots have released the player they acquired in this year’s Chandler Jones trade.
New England cut guard Jonathan Cooper today, Field Yates of ESPN reports.
The seventh overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft, Cooper was viewed as one of the best guard prospects ever to enter the draft. But he never panned out in Arizona and has now washed out in New England as well. Cooper never got on the field in the Patriots’ first four games this season.
Cooper will still have opportunities to catch on elsewhere, but he’s been a major disappointment in the three and a half years since he was drafted.
Although Cooper was the player the Patriots received in the Jones trade, the primary reason they made the trade was to acquire the Cardinals’ second-round draft pick, which they then traded to draft two players, guard Joe Thuney and wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell.