Quite a catch: Former Aggie enjoying surprising NFL success

ASHBURN, Va. — Chris Cooley sat on a couch just inside the doors of the Washington Redskins headquarters early last week.

On a wall above the All-Pro tight end is a color photograph of the Redskins Super Bowl XXVI victory.

A few yards away, on the other side of the reception desk, are the three Super Bowl trophies won by the Redskins.

Cooley, 26, a former Utah State standout who attended Logan High, was taking a break between morning and afternoon practice sessions at Redskins Park.

He wore his No. 47 jersey, shoulder pads and shorts, and had his cleats propped up on a small table. Some of his teammates were downstairs being interviewed by the local media while others were eating lunch.

But Cooley, in his fifth season with the Redskins, was not studying the playbook of head coach Jim Zorn or reading newspaper accounts of the team's ugly 47-3 preseason loss at Charlotte.

Instead, the personable NFL veteran was typing on his laptop, a fairly common pursuit for Cooley when he has some downtime.

Cooley, with the help of his brother and a friend, has his own blog — chriscooley47.blogspot.com. It just adds to the allure of "Captain Chaos," the nickname for one of the team's most popular players. Cooley gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a pro athlete.

"I am very comfortable with myself. I try not to hide myself. We have a perfect format for the blog," Cooley said. It takes about one hour for him to post an entry with photos.

Another popular Washington athlete, Gilbert Arenas of the NBA's Washington Wizards, also has his own blog. "The main difference is Gilbert dictates his blog, and I write my blog," said Cooley, who has not met Arenas.

Cooley had 66 catches last year and was named to the Pro Bowl. He had 37 catches as a rookie in 2004, 71 in 2005 and 57 in 2006.

"As time went on that year, we started to figure out more ways to get him the ball because he was proving to be a winner in the red area and win a lot of other situations," Redskins tight ends coach Rennie Simmons told The Washington Times about Cooley's rookie season.

Cooley was an all-state selection at Logan High, where he caught 46 passes for 625 yards as a senior.

Utah State was the only Division I school to recruit him. He mostly sat on the bench early in his career and had just three catches as a sophomore. But he had 31 catches as a junior and then led the nation in catches by a tight end with 62 as a senior.