Cooper's Rollercoaster Weekend: Goes from Broke to Rich but Loses His Ride or Die!

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A wild weekend of emotions was experienced by Jonathon Cooper. But who would not be excited if they just landed a big contract and then lost a friend but then think of losing a best friend in football. Cooper, an edge rusher, would be experiencing a mix of emotions because it is one thing to lose a teammate but to lose a close friend in Baron Browning would be hard. Imagine losing your best buddy if you were to get a job offer out of state from your company.

According to Cooper, who shared his weekend experience with AP, he initially experienced a huge high because he secured a nice contract and that felt great for him. Probably the high point in his footballing career so far.

But his emotions quickly moved from cloud nine to rock bottom because his long-time friend and defensive teammate Baron Browning just agreed to join the Arizona Cardinals in a deal that will deeply affect him and he is currently trying to get over it.

It is the second time the NFL players have been teammates before and they have always had a close bond that never broke like when Baron the veteran OLB helped Cooper when he first entered the league on what it takes to secure a starting role. But now it appears their great friendship will be tested because their NFL career paths have diverged and that will make this feel bad.

At first it felt exciting for both men in their great NFL football careers as both Browning and Cooper played their college football in the Big 12 Conference. They were happy but had their friendship tested as they went their separate ways and Cooper felt like he was going to have no other great football friend in the sport as it seems the NFL can quickly take a person away and it just happened now.

Baron Browning was the first person he texted when he agreed to his multi-million-dollar contract. Maybe that last memory is the way he would like to remember their playing relationship like and also when it came down to their emotional connection, it seemed like the last hoorah or cheer.

Talking to AP news gave a glimpse of just how much Cooper values Browning in his life during their playing career. One line was so telling - both the world and the NFL don t bring us very many loyal people like Browning. He went on to add that it feels so good to have someone unconditionally in your corner or team who really loves you no matter what and who never fails to have your back even when it almost feels like everyone else wants to give up on you and probably you can really have them a little longer because many go away and its a hard pill to swallow.

Cooper appreciates the guidance of a veteran like Browning because he was also one of the first persons in the team to keep telling Cooper he needs to step up and secure a new contract and it is something that he did finally get around to do over the weekend.

Before joining Cardinals, Browning called his friend to let him know he has agreed to sign a contract with Cardinals and now their time for playing together seems to be done with because something was just going to give and now the biggest dilemma is that they probably cannot fix it like before. Getting to play for a certain team is a big thing for both players.

Browning will forever be one person Cooper will never forget as he once again has had his way of like changing both his personal and football life for Cooper. It feels like one way that Cooper may be able to set this right might be that both Baron and Cooper could meet in a pre-season NFL friendly by having their teams clash in a friendly off-season game at some point.