It’s been quite a while since the Oakland Raiders have been optimistic about anything, but maybe the drafting of Amari Cooper in order to help second-year quarterback Derek Carr is a good enough reason.

Cooper was the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and according to reports from the Raiders’ camps, he’s been playing better than expected, although it doesn’t mean a whole lot when it’s in workouts, minicamps and what not.

However, the man who’ll be throwing him the ball this season is extremely excited, which isn’t surprising considering he had Andre Holmes and James Jones as his top targets last season. (Quotes via Raiders.com)

He is ridiculous in and out of his breaks. His style of play is perfect for this league. He’s good at getting on toes and creating separation. He’s good at when the ball is in his hands making those fast-twitch movements to make a guy go one way so he can take it to the house. It’s just little things that honestly people don’t even notice.

His work ethic is second to none. I was throwing with him as soon as mini-camp was over so we can get more reps in, and our plan was to throw a couple more times, but he texted me that night. He said, ‘hey, let’s throw at least three more times. I need to get this one route right.’ Just him telling me that kind of stuff, it blew my mind.

Cooper had an incredible junior season with Alabama, catching 124 passes in 14 games for 1727 yards and 16 touchdowns. Carr completed 58.1% of his passes last season in a 3-13 year for the Raiders, throwing for 3270 yards, 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Not great, but it could have been a lot worse, and maybe with a target like Cooper, it can be a lot better. Raiders fans are already hopeful that the AC/DC team up can take them to a happy place, somewhere they haven’t been in over a decade.