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Dallas Cowboys executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones was reluctant to commit to wide receiver Amari Cooper. He spoke with reporters in Indianapolis, where the 2022 NFL Combine is being held. Jones stated that it was too early to talk about Cooper and his future with the Cowboys.
“It’s too early for me to address that yet,” Jones said. “We’ve been so fortunate to have those three great receivers on our roster, and obviously that’s hard to keep doing under a salary cap.”
The four-time Pro Bowl receiver signed a five-year, $100,000,000 contract with the Dallas Cowboys in March 2020. It includes a $10,000,000 signing bonus; $60,000,000 guaranteed; and an average annual salary of $20,000,000. He will earn a base salary of $20,000,000, while carrying a cap hit of $22,000,000 and a dead cap value of $6,000,000 this year.
Cooper was drafted by the then-Oakland Raiders fourth overall in the NFL Draft. In his rookie season, he had 72 receptions; 1,070 receiving yards; and six touchdown catches. The receiver finished in the top 20 in receiving yards and targets (130).
The former Alabama Crimson Tide player followed up his rookie season with another 1,000-yard receiving season in his sophomore season. He had 1,153 yards with 83 receptions and five touchdown catches.
The 1,153 yards were the eighth-most receiving yards in the NFL, and his 132 targets were in the top 15 in the 2016 season as well.
In October 2018, the Raiders decided to trade their young receiver to Dallas in exchange for the Cowboys' first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The Cowboys and their options with Amari Cooper
In 56 games with the Cowboys, Cooper has 292 receptions; 3,893 receiving yards; and 27 touchdowns catches. He has two seasons of over 1,100 yards receiving (1,189 in 2019 and 1,114 yards in 2020) and has the eighth-most receiving yards in that stretch.
His $22 million dollar salary becomes fully guaranteed on March 21st, and Dallas could cut him prior to that, saving $16 million in cap space. Another possible solution could be to find a potential trade partner to get his salary off the books. Teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens could use a No.1 receiver on their roster.
What will Jones do with the 27-year-old receiver? We should find out as soon as the offseason should begin to pick up.
