Jonathan Cooper started his football career on Fire. While in North Carolina, he was a trailblazer, recording huge knockdown numbers and percentages throughout his time there. He also received many honorable mentions for his incredible contributions to college football.
The Wilmington man became a professional offensive lineman with the Arizona Cardinals via the 2013 NFL Draft, however, he hasn’t reached the heights expected of him since then largely due to a multitude of injuries. In his time with the NFL, he was on the roster of huge franchises like the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, and New England Patriots.
Bio of Jonathan Cooper
Jonathan Javell Cooper was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on January 19, 1990. Javell played a number of positions including guard and defensive end during his time at John T. Hoggard High School. Cooper proved a crucial part of the team leading them to a 16-0 record in his senior year, winning the championship 4-A. He won the Conference Player of the Year race as an offensive lineman.
At Hoggard, he was also exceptional in his participation in heavyweight wrestling and athletics.
Jonathan Cooper spent four years from 2008 to 2012 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After a redshirt freshman year, he started 10 games for the 2009 season. He played on the left and finished the regular season with 40 playoff blocks and a 73% rating.
He continued to improve his stats with each season and received All-ACC honors for three consecutive years from 2009 to 2011. In his senior year, he was a consensus All-American. In the 2013 NFL Draft, Cooper became the first North Carolina offensive lineman since 1987 to be selected in the first round of the draft. He was the seventh overall pick in the exercise. His selection saw him sign a lucrative four-season contract worth $14.55 million with the Arizona Cardinals in July 2013. Unfortunately, things only went downhill from there. While still in his first preseason, he suffered a ruptured left fibula.
He was back the following year and was plugged into left-back although he still seemed to be struggling with his previous injury. His problem was compounded by a knee and toe injury in training camp. It was therefore spoofed on the depth chart by Ted Larsen. He returned in Week 14 but only held on for two games before being sidelined again with a left wrist injury. In 2015, he was moved to right guard to make way for new signing Mike Lupati, but again succumbed to the persistent knee problem in Week 10.
Running out of patience, the Cardinals traded him to the New England Patriots on March 15, 2016. He injured his right foot three days into training camp, handing him his starting spot. He was released seven months later in October.
That same month, Jonathan Cooper joined the Cleveland Browns where he turned out at right guard for five games, with three of them as a starter. It was lifted in December 2016.
In order to give depth to their team, the Dallas Cowboys chose him as a reserve for the offensive line. He officially signed a one-year contract with the team on March 14, 2017.
He became a starter in Game 4 of the regular season against the Los Angeles Rams. Here, Cooper who was playing at left guard finally had his first decent streak of games since 2015. For the first time in his NFL career, left guard started a personal best 13 games. However, he was down in the season finale when he suffered ligament damage while playing against the Philadelphia Eagles.
This marked the end of his time with the team as he moved on to the San Francisco 49ers on a one-year contract on March 20, 2018. He became a free agent after the team let him go. September 1, 2018.
Jonathan Cooper’s family
Not much is known about the footballer’s family. Jonathan was born to his parents, Michael Cooper and Velma Cooper. “Coop,” as he is affectionately known, has at least three siblings from his parents: two sisters and at least one brother. One of his brothers, like him, goes to North Carolina. One of her sisters is enrolled at Meredith College and the other resides in Durham.
Height, weight and body measurements
The footballer stands at an athletically respectable height of 6ft 2in (1.88m) and weighs 140kg (308lbs). It also has a reach of 33 inches (0.84 m) and a hand size of 10¼ inches (0.26 m).