Over the next few months, we’ll be breaking down all of the rookies added by the Jets during the draft and as undrafted free agents. We continue today with offensive lineman Anez Cooper.
The 22-year old Cooper is listed at 6’5” and 334 pounds and was a sixth round pick out of Miami. Cooper made 46 starts in four seasons with the Hurricanes and was a second-team all-ACC selection in 2025.
Background
Cooper was a three-star high school prospect who headed to Miami in 2022 but started off in a reserve
role. He made his first start in week nine of his freshman season and ultimately started four games that year.
Over the next three seasons, Cooper was a full-time starter, making 42 straight starts at right guard. He was an all-ACC honorable mention in 2023 and 2024, and then earned all-ACC second team honors in 2025.
Having been invited to the scouting combine, Cooper was selected by the Jets in the sixth round. He had been widely projected as a late-round pick, but ESPN’s Matt Miller had him going in the early fourth in a seven-round mock last month.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Cooper brings to the table, based on in-depth research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Cooper is massive, with outstanding length, although he had issues with his weight in the past, at one point being over 400 pounds. At the scouting combine, he weighed in at 334, which is 11 pounds under his listed weight.
He ran a 5.63 in the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, although the faster of his two runs was 5.52. That’s not particuarly impressive, even at that size, but he shows some good movement skills for someone so big on film.
He did not participate in the bench press at the combine or his pro day, but clearly displays good strength and power in his game footage.
Usage
All 46 of Cooper’s career starts came at right guard but he did see a few snaps here and there while aligned at left guard and right tackle during his career. Miami also experimented with some unbalanced line formations, in which he often moved to the left side to line up outside the left tackle, so he would be comfortable in a sixth lineman role for jumbo packages.
Pass Blocking
Cooper has some solid pass blocking numbers over the course of his career, as he never gave up 20 pressures in a season. He also only gave up one sack in 2025, although he had given up a total of six over his first three seasons. It was rare that he was beaten cleanly in a one-on-one matchup at Miami.
When he locks onto his man, Cooper anchors well and punches to extension. However, when he faced top defensive tackle prospects, his lack of lateral speed was exposed and he struggled to stay in front of them at times.
Run Blocking
Cooper’s run blocking has been solid over the course of his career but he perhaps doesn’t dominate as much as you’d expect for someone with his size. Nevertheless, his run blocking grade in 2025 according to analysis site Pro Football Focus, was the best of his career and, as you’d expect, his strength lies at the point of attack and in his power.
The book on Cooper is that he is limited in terms of his ability to get out on the move and make blocks in space and there are signs of this at times.
However, he can be effective on the move some of the time and has developed an ability to lock onto and drive his man back in space and to angle off his opponent.
Short Yardage
As you would expect, Cooper gave the Hurricanes a big body to run behind in short yardage situations and they has some success doing this.
One pattern with him, however, is that he can be initially stood up at the line until he gains some traction to drive his man off his spot. That can mean he is more effective in slower-developing runs than the kind of direct straight-ahead runs that are usually employed in short yardage situations.
Screen Blocking
Cooper will hustle to get out in front on screen passes, although he doesn’t necessarily have the ideal footspeed to excel at this. However, he’s had some positive flashes in this area.
Footwork/Technique
Cooper’s length and the power of his initial punch gives him a good foundation to rely on in all situations. On top of this, his upper body strength enables him to win leverage battles – or at least it did at the college level. He may not enjoy as much success in doing this at the NFL level and may need to employ better footwork to give himself a stronger platform to win those battles.
Again, the book on him is that he lacks knee bend which can affect his pad level and his anchor against bull rushes. However, his recent film suggests he’s worked on and improved in this area.
He has good body control and balance, but is less comfortable out in space and has issues at times with reaching for his man rather than moving his feet to stay on top of him, both when run blocking and in pass protection.
Penalties
Penalties were not a massive problem for Cooper, who averaged less than one every two starts and ended up with 19 in his career.
However, he had eight in 2025, which was his highest total for any season. Six of these were false starts and the other two were both holding penalties while pass protecting.
Special Teams
Cooper’s only role on special teams in college was as a blocker on the placekicking unit. He had no issues or penalties within this role.
Instincts/Intelligence
Cooper benefited from being on a line where there were not many changes so he was able to develop chemistry with his linemates over the course of his career. However, his issues in identifying and adjusting to rush games are a concern. He gets this right some of the time, but whenever he is slightly late to come off his primary assignment, he doesn’t really have the explosiveness to recover.
In addition, he was often employed as a spare man and required to keep his head on a swivel. In these situations, he sometimes looked confused as to where to help and was hesitant or late in getting over.
As noted, Cooper had six false starts last season, so focus can perhaps be an issue.
Attitude
Cooper is a big character, whose teammates have said is a funny guy with a mean streak who plays with an edge and talks plenty of trash. He was a quiet personality as a freshman but gradually came out of his shell to become more of a vocal leader and use his experience to mentor some of the younger linemen on the team.
His aggressive streak shows up on film, as he finishes his blocks and hustles after downfield carries. However, you’d normally expect a guy with this kind of nasty streak to have some highlights of lighting opposing pass rushers up as he goes “looking for work” but this wasn’t something that was apparent.
In his film, there are a mixture of plays where he hustles to the whistle and ones where he will carry out his initial assignment and then is caught standing around when the play lasts longer than expected. This could just be because he lacked the conditioning to maintain those effort levels, although of course this will be less of an issue if he can continue to keep his weight under control.
Injuries
Cooper was largely unaffected by injuries in his college career, as he played 52 games in four years, including all 16 in 2025, which saw him on the field for over 1,000 snaps for the first time in his career.
In 2024, he was knocked out of one game with an ankle injury but showed toughness by being back in the line-up next week.
Scheme Fit
While Cooper was a key cog in a successful unit at Miami, there is a suggestion that he benefited from being in a system that helped to mask some of his weaknesses. The Hurricanes played with tight offensive line splits and had plenty of quick passes and RPO-type plays to mitigate potential pressure. Having a future top-10 pick on your outside shoulder in Sisi Mauigoa didn’t hurt either.
The Jets are unlikely to have a system that works so well to make his life easier, although they can make adjustments if he is called into action before he is ready.
He was a teammate of current Jets Tyler Baron and Kiko Mauigoa, and (for one season) his fellow draft pick Darrell Jackson Jr. at Miami.
Conclusions
If Cooper can keep his weight stable, stay healthy and sharpen up some of his technical flaws, the Jets will be hoping he has the potential to develop into a future starter.
In the short term, he has some good players ahead of him that he can learn from and then step into the line-up for if they get hurt. He may also see work as a sixth lineman in jumbo packages.
Ultimately, maybe he won’t end up as a starter after all but he could still prove to be a valuable rotational option to provide depth and be a reliable spot starter in the years ahead.
There are definitely plenty of things to like from his game film and some apparent improvements in his final season, but the coaching staff will have their work cut out to help him prove he should have been drafted sooner. He should be motivated to achieve this, though.
