Austin Willis, Amari Cooper, Derek Carr

Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper (89) and quarterback Derek Carr (4) stretch during minicamp on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, in Alameda, Calif.

(AP Photo)

Oakland quarterback Derek Carr hurt the ring finger on his throwing hand during the Raiders' first OTA on May 19. The injury kept him from passing during the nine remaining Organized Team Activities of Oakland's offseason program.

Carr was cleared to throw for the Raiders' three-day minicamp this week, getting his first chance to conduct passing drills with Oakland's top draft choice, wide receiver Amari Cooper from Alabama.

"Oh, my goodness! It was nice to get out there and to see just how quick he is out of his breaks," Carr said during a press conference this week about throwing to Cooper. "There was one ball that I put on this side of his facemask instead of the front and led him. It would have been a big play, and that's just the stuff of us getting our timing down. But it made me see like, wow, he can really get in there. I can just let it go. It's nice. It slows the rush down, too, because you get the ball out and they're angry that they couldn't get to you -- all those good things. It was good to get out there and throw to him."

Oakland's leading receiver in 2014 had 693 yards, and the Raiders haven't had a 1,000-yard receiver since 2005. Oakland used the fourth pick in the 2015 NFL Draft on Cooper after he set an SEC single-season receptions record in 2014.

In his final season at Alabama, Cooper set school single-season records with 124 receptions for 1,727 yards and 16 touchdown catches in 2014 and finished with Crimson Tide career marks of 229 receptions for 3,463 yards and 31 TD catches.

"I think he's going to be really special if he continues to work like he does," Carr told reporters.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM'S COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Carr said the addition of Cooper and other offseason upgrades, such as the signing of Kansas City Chiefs center Rodney Hudson, a former B.C. Rain prep star, has lifted the Raiders, who haven't had a winning record since the 2002 season.

"You watch when we added those guys, how much better the guys we had got because of the competition," Carr said. "Everyone is competing. You just see our team just getting so much better. It's constant now. We definitely have become a better football team."

Oakland wrapped up minicamp on Thursday, and the veteran players are off until reporting to training camp on July 29. Cooper can look forward to the NFL's week-long Rookie Symposium, which begins June 21 in Aurora, Ohio.