Nick Saban Shares Strong Reaction to Former Alabama Star’s Sudden NFL Retirement

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Hugh Green | Last updated Sep 5, 2025 2:57 PM ET

Former Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver and five-time NFL Pro Bowler Amari Cooper announced his retirement from football on Thursday. This comes less than two weeks after he signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract to return to the Las Vegas Raiders organization. Cooper shined during his time in the NFL and under Nick Saban at Alabama.

The wideout spent three years with the Crimson Tide in college, emerging as one of the best deep ball threats in the country.

On Friday, Saban spoke about coaching Cooper at Alabama, the type of player he was and the sudden nature of his retirement.

"That shocked me," Saban said on "The Pat McAfee Show." "He caught over 100 balls for us. He was fantastic when he played for us, and he was a great competitor. Very quiet guy, maybe a little misunderstood sometimes because he was so quiet. But, a good person."

During his time at Alabama under Saban, Cooper had 228 receptions for 3,463 yards and 31 touchdowns. In his junior season in 2014, Cooper finished third in Heisman Trophy voting and was a consensus All-American.

Since then, Cooper has spent 10 years in the NFL. He has over 700 receptions for more than 10,000 yards and 64 touchdowns in his professional career.

"He's had a good career," Saban continued. "I hate to see people like that not be able to continue their career for whatever reasons, but I'm sure he's got good reason to hang it up."

With this shocking announcement, Cooper walks away from the sport with an incredibly successful NFL career and as a legend at Alabama.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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