The Cowboys are “likely” to release wide receiver Amari Cooper by the start of the league year, according to league sources who spoke with Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The move would spare Dallas from a fully-guaranteed $20MM payout, due on March 20th.
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Cutting Cooper would save the Cowboys $16MM in cap room for 2022. This was unthinkable just a couple of years ago, when the wide receiver inked his five-year, $100MM extension. Back then, he was fresh off of his fourth career Pro Bowl nod and had just reeled in 79 catches for 1,189 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. He delivered another solid — though less efficient — season in 2020 with 92 grabs, 1,114 yards, and five scores.
In 2021, however, he had his least productive full season as a Cowboy. His 68 catches for 865 yards and eight touchdowns were still okay for fantasy owners, but his overall performance wasn’t in line with his best work.
Without the former fourth overall pick, the Cowboys may look to completely overhaul their WR unit. Both Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson are scheduled for free agency, leaving CeeDee Lamb as the only pillar of the group under contract.
A Cooper release would provide breathing room for the long run as well. By dropping the remainder of his five-year, $100MM deal, the Cowboys would escape $22MM cap hits in each of the next three seasons. Cooper, meanwhile, would profile as one of the top free agents available. Despite his down 2021, Cooper has five 1,000-yard seasons on his resume and won’t turn 28 until June.
This guy should have never had a top of the market contract. Especially in dallas where they had to pay Dak and Zeke plus their line
Zeke should have never got that contract either.
The problem with zeke imo is that McCarthy never valued his RB’s even in GB. and he hasn’t been used properly.
Plus the OLine isn’t what it used to be.
The Zeke contract is vastly worse.
Ooof…..vastly worse because know one in cowboy front office did ANY homework on the impact 300+ carries has on a RB. Can zeke be serviceable on the cowboys? Absolutely. However, his elite days are gone. Long gone. And with that are his elite paydays. Time to cut that bait as well.
Or just how valuable running backs are compared to other positions in terms of actually winning. Which goes with your point. If you give the ball to a running back enough to hope to justify a contract that big, then you’re not running an efficient offense AND you’re going to wear down that running back.
They could have gone with letting Zeke go, started Pollard and picked up a serviceable but affordable second back. Then they could ha e kept the WRs together a couple more years
Expect Lawrence released as well. Meanwhile they will probably be back at square one with TE as they could lose Schultz
Unfortunately the time to let Zeke go was instead of giving him that contract. This offseason it would be impossible.
I don’t think this is a smart move by cowboys.
So unlike the Cowboys to admit they overpaid someone.
The game has changed. Being a 1,000-yard rusher or receiver isn’t the benchmark it used to be, and there are few players capable of producing on a level close to what that used to mean today.
Literally not the benchmark it used to be since there’s extra games
So true! Now it’s only an average of 59 yards for the 17 game season. When it became the benchmark it was in a 10, or 12 game season.
You mean 14 or 16 and a better balance of run/pass.
They got good production out of him. So with a league cap, players come and players go. Dallas is no different over paying players. Come March you’ll see all the players left to the open market.
Very few of them will be as good as Cooper, at such a valuable position, under 30, and not a complete injury risk.
I get that the Cowboys have to deal with their cap issues and Cooper had a down year, but this is starting to feel like if someone decided to lose weight by cutting chunks of flesh out. Their pass catching unit was their greatest strength going into last year, and now they risk losing three of their top four wideouts and their top tight end. Lamb is great, but you need multiple weapons.
I agree. Cooper had a huge number and had a disappointing 2021, but the Cowboys had the best receiving corps in the league before this move and now go into 2022 with only Lamb on contract (so far). I suppose a re-sign is possible, but Cooper will be a hotly pursued player in free agency for any contending team. I don’t think that there’s any reason to expect him not to bounce back from his down season last year, which still was good by most receivers’ standards.
This one is tough. My thing is, Amari is one of the best route runners out there. If Dak can’t find him open and not utilize him – why pay him. It’s a catch (no pun intended) though, sure his numbers don’t indicate he’s been as productive but I think it has more to do with our O-Line decline and overall game plan. This line isn’t close to what it was with Frederick, Martin, Smith just 3-4 seasons ago. This has led to abandoning the run game and putting all the pressure on Dak. Yes the Zeke contract is bad, we aren’t even trying to use him like he we were a few years ago. The guy is still a top 10 RB given more opportunity and better line play. Same could be said for Dak with a better line. Ultimately, if cutting Cooper gives some relief to upgrade the line then it makes sense. Dak played his best ball when Zeke was rushing for 100+.
Zeke being so dependent on the line and volume is one more reason you don’t pay running backs so much. They’re not much worse with Pollard on the field. Of course Dak played his best ball when Zeke was rushing for 100+. Most of the time when Zeke was running for 100+, they were handing him the ball more to run off leads. This is generally why “Team X wins more when Running Back Y runs for Z amount” talking points tend to have the causation backwards. Teams run a lot because they’re winning more often than they win because they’re running a lot.
That’s true, but to both of your points that also has to do with offensive line play. If Zeke rushes for 100+, the line is playing well. If not, then Dak will feel the additional pressure in the pocket and the play-action will be much less effective. Also to Oof’s point, that’s why I kind of laugh when announcers/analysts say something like “Quarterback X has a better win percentage when running back Y has 100+ yards”. Well, I mean, who doesn’t?
The Cowboys have a couple of players in Zeke and Smith who were once much more effective than before their respective injuries, but they’re still mostly effective. The line itself has some good talent, but they play so inconsistently that it sometimes seems to disappear in certain games. I don’t know if that’s an injury issue or a coaching issue or if they’re gotten individually worse, but it’s concerning for the Cowboys going forward.
Come on Colts, get him on board!
Hmmm, on one hand I’m glad the Raiders traded him when they did. On the other, I now hope they sign him as a FA.
I think he’d make a pretty target for us. Still need to replace Ruggs.
bring this man to Philly!
Jerry Jones: “We can replace Cooper with Josh Gordon so our fans really have no reason to be concerned”.
Bold move cotton let’s see how it works out.
“Worst year”. Statistically yes. But that’s like Harden going to the Sixers and Harris having less shots. More people eating off the same plate will do this. Lamb is a baller so you shouldn’t be upset seeing Coopers numbers drop. You let Cooper go and maybe resign Gallup. Ok. But will he back back by what? Week 10-12? Can Dak still produce without a big weapon?
If Dallas cuts him. Cowboys probably bring him back on a much cheaper deal.
Bears? Poles needs to make a splash.
Mr Cooper, I have a Me Ziegler holding on line one. Should I patch him thru?