Riley Cooper returned to Philadelphia Eagles practice on Tuesday morning, as the team prepares to play in their first preseason game on Friday night against the New England Patriots.
Cooper was excused from team practice last Friday, and was not available to the media to further discuss the video which showed him using a racial slur towards a security guard at a Kenny Chesney concert released last week. Luckily for Cooper, the NFL decided not to take any action after being satisfied with the punishment the Eagles had put in place.
#Eagles WR Riley Cooper has returned from his excused absence and is scheduled to practice with the team today.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 6, 2013
It’s not yet known the extent to which Cooper will play against the Patriots in the preseason opener this Friday. The wide receiver’s role was expected to significantly increase prior to the release of the video. This was due to wide receiver Jeremy Maclin’s torn ACL that will sideline the receiver for the entire season. That meant that DeSean Jackson would move to the full-time #1 receiver and Cooper likely from third to second on the depth chart – the decision on that has not yet been made.
Developments in the story have also mentioned that Cooper received threats that the video would be released, and he informed the Eagles prior to it coming out. The team said that Cooper was unaware of who made the threats, which occurred on Twitter.
The Eagles have plenty of other issues on the field to worry about going forward, and as of now, it appears that Cooper will continue to be a part of the team.