Is Omar Cooper Jr. the Next Ladd McConkey? 2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report & SPS Grade

Updated May 15, 2026

Ladd McConkey was the 34th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Georgia, taken by the Los Angeles Chargers to give Justin Herbert a reliable weapon. The New York Jets traded up with the San Francisco 49ers to select Omar Cooper Jr. with the No. 30 overall pick in Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft, sending pick 33 and pick 179 to the Niners to lock in a receiver opposite Garrett Wilson. Cooper measured 6’0″, 200 pounds and posted a 102.8 Speed Score per PlayerProfiler and 13 receiving touchdowns in 2025. Cooper did this while helping lead the Hoosiers to an undefeated national title with 69 catches for 937 yards and Second-Team All-Big Ten honors. He erupted for 10 catches, 207 yards and four touchdowns in a 73-0 demolition of Indiana State. A late Penn State touchdown was the signature rep: a third-and-goal grab over safety Zakee Wheatley with 36 seconds left to flip the game from a four-point deficit to a 27-24 lead.

The Jets paid Round 1 draft capital to put him next to Wilson, betting that playmaking abilities will translate the moment OTAs open. But will Cooper’s analytics share the same sentiment as those film analysts? Further, will he score high enough to make the top 10 all-time WR SPS list?

The Film Breakdown: Pros & Cons

We all should be looking at both film and analytics as we know they go hand-in-hand. The following consensus film critiques are derived from looks into Cooper’s game film. These highlight the positive and negative traits New York just bought into with a Round 1 pick:

The Pros (The “Elite” Upside)

• Translatable Slot-Flex Profile: Lance Zierlein’s NFL.com scouting report calls Cooper a “Big, strong target whose two-year rise is bolstered by translatable tape” who “can stem and drive past press with his strength.” (NFL.com)
• Middle-Of-The-Field Operator: Bleacher Report’s draft scouting report wrote that Cooper “excels working over the middle of the field on digs, crossers, and slant routes,” giving the Jets a layered intermediate weapon. (Bleacher Report)
• Contact Balance Through The Catch: Bleacher Report also notes Cooper “displays good contact-balance to absorb hits and keep working upfield” – a trait that helped him pick up YAC chunks with Indiana. (Bleacher Report)

The Cons (The Refinement Needs)

• Length At The Catch Point: Bleacher Report’s report also points out Cooper “lacks the length/wingspan to dominate the catch point.” (Bleacher Report)
• Acceleration Out Of His Breaks: The same report flags that Cooper “lacks acceleration out of his breaks to generate instant separation on intermediate routes,” meaning he won with things other than with twitch while at Indiana. (Bleacher Report)

For dynasty managers, the McConkey comparison is now head-to-head with their draft capital aligned. McConkey went to the Chargers at Pick 34 in 2024 and stepped into a target room that lost Keenan Allen and Mike Williams – a vacuum he used to accumulate 1,149 receiving yards as a rookie. Cooper arrives in New York at Pick 30 with a different but workable runway: ESPN’s Jets depth chart lists Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell ahead of Cooper. With Wilson commanding the alpha role, the Year-1 opportunity is much murkier than McConkey’s was. Although, with Adonai Mitchell’s lack of long-term success, it feels as though the sidekick role next to Wilson is wide open. Cooper showed up at the Combine with the same scouting label McConkey wore – polished footwork, physicality, and a willingness to attack a 50/50 ball. There is also a built-in comfort factor leading Cooper into camp: Cooper reunites with former Indiana teammate D’Angelo Ponds in the Jets’ secondary, a Hoosiers connection both sides have already leaned into in camp. With Round 1 capital backing Cooper up and a depth chart that could funnel slot work directly to him, the path to an 85-target rookie season is real – which is the floor McConkey hit before exploding past it.

What Is Omar Cooper Jr.’s SPS Grade?

For those of you who aren’t familiar, The Star-Predictor Score (SPS) is a scouting tool designed to maximize investment potential and reduce risks when drafting rookies in Fantasy Football. It is proven to have a higher accuracy than draft capital alone to predict fantasy football success. The SPS includes 13 to 17 metrics, with the exact number varying by the player’s position. All metrics are pre-NFL – and some are proprietary to BrainyBallers – providing a complete analysis of a player’s analytical profile. The SPS gained widespread notoriety for its high accuracy, having made it on Barstool and The Pat McAfee Show. The SPS database can be found here, and future projected SPS grades can be unlocked here.

As the Pat McAfee crew noted when reviewing our top 10 all-time prospects graphic: “They haven’t missed… those are all the guys they predicted would be stars and they hit on all of them.” 

The Verdict

So is Omar Cooper Jr. the next Ladd McConkey? The Round 1 capital says the Jets believe in the potential, the possible slot vacancy says the role is sitting there, and the film traits – translatable slot/flex profile, middle-of-the-field operator, contact balance – are the same ones that helped McConkey turn into a rookie success story in Los Angeles. New York also paid a trade-up tax to lock him in opposite Garrett Wilson, which means the targets are probably coming whether or not Cooper has a perfect runway. The film analysts have made their case, the Hoosiers’ national-title tape backs it up, and Cooper’s own GM Darren Mougey said the team had “good grades” on him with “strong hands” and “versatility to play inside and outside” before trading up to lock in the pick. The SPS is the answer key on whether Cooper’s analytical profile lines up with the comp – or whether the McConkey ceiling is all just a hypothetical. So will Cooper make the top-10 all-time Wide Receiver SPS list?