Earl Cooper is a career quality starter — a running back whose body of work places Cooper in the top half of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Cooper's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

RBLV#0ACT

Earl Cooper

Top 26% all-time RBsReliable StarterTwo-Way Profile

Height6'2"

Weight227 lb

BornSep 17, 1957

Age68

CollegeRice See College Stats

Rookie yr1980

Draft1980 · Rd 1, Pick 13 · SFO

Archetype Intelligence

Reliable StarterExplore archetypes →

A running back with a top 30% among starters — the kind of consistent contributor every roster needs. Solid availability (exceptional availability — almost never missed time) added to their value.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 30 · #2669 · Role Player

Worth 30 points of value above a freely-available replacement running back — top 58% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 4 of 5 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +7.5 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

4 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+7.5

Avg surplus

peak +16

4 seasons × ~7.5 surplus ≈ VORP 30

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

3 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Rushing								Receiving									Defense
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1980	—	SF	16	—	171	720	5	4.2	2.9	—	—	—	—	83	567	4	—	6.8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1981	—	SF	16	—	98	330	1	3.4	1.0	—	—	—	—	51	477	0	—	9.4	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1982	—	SF	9	—	24	77	0	3.2	0.0	—	—	—	—	19	153	1	—	8.1	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1983	—	SF	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	15	207	3	—	13.8	—	—	—	7	6	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1984	—	SF	16	—	3	13	0	4.3	0.0	—	—	—	—	41	459	4	—	11.2	—	—	—	2	2	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1985	—	SF	15	—	2	12	0	6.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	4	45	0	—	11.3	—	—	—	9	6	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
Career		—	88	—	298	1,152	6	3.9	2.0	—	—	—	0	213	1,908	12	—	9.0	—	—	—	20	16	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0	—	—

Rushing

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	VAL
1980	23	SF	16	—	171	720	5	4.2	2.9	—	—	—	22.4
1981	24	SF	16	—	98	330	1	3.4	1.0	—	—	—	9.9
1982	25	SF	9	—	24	77	0	3.2	0.0	—	—	—	5.4
1984	27	SF	16	—	3	13	0	4.3	0.0	—	—	—	12.2
1985	28	SF	15	—	2	12	0	6.0	0.0	—	—	—	5.4
Career			72		298	1,152	6	3.9	—	—	—	—	69.3

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D
1980	23	SF	16	—	—	83	567	4	—	6.8	—	—	—
1981	24	SF	16	—	—	51	477	0	—	9.4	—	—	—
1982	25	SF	9	—	—	19	153	1	—	8.1	—	—	—
1983	26	SF	16	—	—	15	207	3	—	13.8	—	—	—
1984	27	SF	16	—	—	41	459	4	—	11.2	—	—	—
1985	28	SF	15	—	—	4	45	0	—	11.3	—	—	—
Career			88		0	213	1,908	12	—	9.0	—	—	—

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	FR	TD	Sfty
1981	24	SF	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1982	25	SF	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1983	26	SF	—	—	7	6	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1984	27	SF	—	—	2	2	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1985	28	SF	—	—	9	6	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
Career					20	16	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 58 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 58 of 100, era-normalized against rush yds/g peers across 5 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 57.2 × longevity 1 = KV-H 58· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 56

On-field 36.3

Availability 19.7

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rush yds/g)

1980bestavg 561985

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 14% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

14% of the all-time Receptions leader14

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 89%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average RBs aging curve. Group peak age: 21. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

From Scrimmage · Career

Scrimmage Yds

3,060

1,152 rush · 1,908 recv

Total TDs

6 rush · 12 recv

Total Touches

511

298 carries · 213 rec

Yds / Touch

6.0

rushing + receiving

College Stats

RiceCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Rice), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

Top Teammates

Ronnie LottCB5y Mike WilsonWR5y Roger CraigRB3y John FrankTE2y Derrick HarmonRB2y Amos LawrenceRB2y Jerry RiceWR1y

1980 Draft Class· this player went #13

#1Billy SimsRB #2Lam JonesWR #3Anthony MunozOT #5Curtis DickeyRB #7Junior MillerTE #15Marc WilsonQB #18Art MonkWR #25Vagas FergusonRB #27Charles WhiteRB #28Mark MaloneQB #29Joe CribbsRB #32Ray DonaldsonC #33Doug MarshTE #41Dave WaymerDB #46Matt SuheyRB #49Kevin HouseWR

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Earl opened the San Francisco 49ers RB lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Roger Craig (1983–1990).

Earl Cooper 1980–1985Roger Craig 1983–1990Derrick Harmon 1984–1986Joe Cribbs 1986–1987Tom Rathman 1986–1993Keith Henderson 1989–1992

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

1985final season
Last recorded season with SF
1980draft
Drafted by SFO — Round 1, Pick 13
1980team change
Joined SF (from SFO)

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'2" / 227 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 5-season peers. See all →

peak 59

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

B1980

C+1981

C+1982

C+1984

C+1985

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 6 seasons.

99%

Era Translator

Rush Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rush Yds	Rush Yds/G	→ 2025 Rush Yds	→ 2025 /G
1980	720	45	790+70	46.5
1981	330	20.6	447+117	26.3
1982	77	8.6	242+165	14.3
1984	13	0.8	152+139	9
1985	12	0.8	122+110	7.1

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

30 career value over replacement — #2669 all-time of 4,642. 6/season above a replacement-level RB.

Draft OutcomeMiss ↓

Pick #13 (Rd 1) · SFO · 1980 · -2.3 vs expected KV-H

58actual

60.3 expected · Δ−2.3

Fan Rating

Rate Earl Cooper — All-Time

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Compare Earl Cooper vs Player Report data error

Earl Cooper

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Rushing

Receiving

Defense

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

From Scrimmage · Career

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1980 Draft Class· this player went #13

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography