HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper retired Thursday, a little more than a week after signing a one-year contract to return to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said Cooper called coach Pete Carroll on Thursday morning and gave him the news.
“It's unfortunate because I think the world of him,” Kelly said. “I think he’s a heck of a football player. He's had a heck of an NFL career, but he knows in his heart what he wants to do, so I wish him the best. I've always been a big fan of his.”
Cooper, 31, played 10 seasons for four teams and finished with 711 catches for 10,033 yards and 64 touchdowns.
He was drafted fourth in the 2015 draft by the then-Oakland Raiders.
Cooper played for the Raiders until being traded to Dallas in October 2018 for a first-round pick. He exceeded 1,000 receiving yards seven times, most recently two years ago for Cleveland, when Cooper had 72 receptions for 1,250 yards and five touchdowns.
He had 44 catches for 547 yards and four TDs last season for the Browns and Buffalo Bills.
When he met with reporters last week, Cooper said he wanted to prove he remained one of the league's top receivers.
“Trust me, I still have some juice left,” Cooper said at the time. “I felt like this was the opportunity for me to show it.”
How much Cooper would have been part of the offense remained to be seen.
“Amari’s done well so far,” Carroll said Wednesday. "We just want to get through some more practices. We just haven’t had that much time yet.”
Kelly said the coaches still were finalizing their plan for how they will use their receivers in Sunday's season opener at New England.
“We hadn't made any final decisions on whether (Cooper) was going to play in the first game,” Kelly said. “He was training with us and got reps. You're not making your usual 48-man roster until Saturday anyway, so we hadn't had any discussions.”
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FILE - Buffalo Bills wide receiver Amari Cooper, right, is tackled by New York Jets cornerback D.J. Reed (4) during the first half of an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus,File)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Vote counting was underway Friday in Uganda’s tense presidential election, which was held a day earlier amid an internet shutdown, voting delays and complaints by an opposition leader who said some of his polling agents had been detained by the authorities.
Opposition leader Bobi Wine said Thursday he was unable to leave his house and that his polling agents in rural areas were abducted before voting started, undermining his efforts to prevent electoral offenses such as ballot stuffing.
Wine is hoping to end President Yoweri Museveni's four-decade rule in an election during which the military was deployed and heavy security was posted outside his house near Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after the vote.
The musician-turned-politician wrote on X on Thursday that a senior party official in charge of the western region had been arrested, adding there was “massive ballot stuffing everywhere.”
Rural Uganda, especially the western part of the country, is a ruling-party stronghold, and the opposition would be disadvantaged by not having polling agents present during vote counting.
To try to improve his chances of winning, Wine had urged his supporters to “protect the vote” by having witnesses document alleged offenses at polling stations, in addition to deploying official polling agents.
Wine faced similar setbacks when he first ran for president five years ago. Museveni took 58% of the vote, while Wine got 35%, according to official results. Wine said at the time that the election had been rigged in favor of Museveni, who has spoken disparagingly of his rival.
Museveni, after voting on Thursday, said the opposition had infiltrated the 2021 election and defended the use of biometric machines as a way of securing the vote in this election.
Museveni has served the third-longest tenure of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military, which is led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.
Voters line up to cast their ballots at a polling station, during the presidential election, in the capital, Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Election officials count ballots after the polls closed for the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
An election official holds up unmarked ballots during the vote count after polls closed for the presidential election, at a polling center in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A political representative speaks as he works to observe and verify the counting of ballots after polls closed in the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A supporter of leading opposition candidate Bobi Wine cheers while watching election officials count ballots, after polls closed at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
