Jarrod Alexander Cooper (born March 31, 1978) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

and

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

. He was drafted by the Panthers in the fifth round of the

2001 NFL Draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Early life

Cooper played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and ran

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

for

Pearland High School Pearland High School (PHS) is an American public high school, located in Pearland, Texas, south of Houston. It is one of three high schools in the Pearland Independent School District, and serves parts of Pearland and most of the city of Br ...

in Texas. He was an All-state selection in football as a senior and was a four-year letterman in track and field, excelling in the long jump, triple jump, and the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles.

College career

Cooper played

where he was an All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

selection all four years. He was elected team captain as a junior and senior. After leaving Kansas State, he ranked 11th in school history in tackles.

Professional career

Carolina Panthers

Cooper was drafted by the

in the fifth round (143rd overall) of the

and played in

Super Bowl XXXVIII Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Carolina Panthers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) c ...

Oakland Raiders

Cooper joined the Oakland Raiders on October 29, 2004 after being claimed off waivers. In 2005, he won the

Ed Block Courage Award The Ed Block Courage Award is an annual award presented to a player from each team in the National Football League (NFL) who are voted for by their teammates as role models of inspiration, sportsmanship, and courage. Named in memory of Ed Block, a ...

chosen by his teammates. He was also a team captain for the 2006 season. Cooper was released by the Raiders prior to the 2007 season after failing a league mandated drug test. He was re-signed not long after he served his suspension, but was placed on season-ending

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on December 17 with a torn ACL. He was later released on August 25, 2008 and did not play during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Cooper has since revealed that head injuries (causing recurrent, debilitating migraines) and an uncertain medical prognosis were reasons for his "abrupt" retirement from the Oakland Raiders.

NFL statistics

Personal life

In 2007 Cooper began volunteering at the Oakland Animal Shelter in Oakland California. He quickly became an integral part of the shelter's team of staff and volunteers, often spending hours walking the dogs, cleaning kennels, and performing various improvement tasks around the shelter. Eventually he donated funds for the construction of outdoor exercise runs for the dogs named "the Coop" He subsequently cofounded Help Code 597, a non-profit dedicated to helping the animals of Oakland. As of 2011, Cooper continued as a regular volunteer at the shelter.Jones, Carolyn
Oakland: Neighbors honored for taping dog beating
''San Francisco Chronicle''. February 18, 2011.

References

External links

Oakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Jarrod Players of American football from Akron, Ohio American football safeties Kansas State Wildcats football players Carolina Panthers players Oakland Raiders players Pearland High School alumni 1978 births Living people Ed Block Courage Award recipients