Amari Cooper’s time with the Dallas Cowboys may be coming to an end.
The Pro Bowl wideout was once a prized acquisition for Jerry Jones and the crown jewel of Dak Prescott’s passing offense. But he’s since been surpassed on Prescott’s wish list by CeeDee Lamb; 2021 was his least productive season in Dallas. His 68 catches and 865 yards were both full-season lows as a Cowboy. His catch rate and yards per target each the lowest they’d been since he was an unhappy Oakland Raider.
His most troubling number, however, doesn’t show up on his stat sheet. It’s the $22 million salary cap hit that has helped push Dallas over 2022’s projected $208.2 million spending limit. Releasing him as a designated post-June 1 cut would trim $20 million of that from the Cowboys’ books.
That appears to be the plan.
Cowboys are “likely” to release WR Amari Copper by the start of the new league year, per league sources.
Cooper is due $20 million in fully guaranteed money on the fifth day of the new league year, March 20.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2022
It would be a bitter pill to swallow; Cooper is only 27 years old and has plenty of good football ahead of him. But Dallas is currently $13 million over the cap and has to make decisions about pending free agents like Dalton Schultz, Michael Gallup and Randy Gregory. The simplest way to unclog that cap jam is to say goodbye to the player for whom Jones once dealt a first round pick.
Let’s say Cooper hits the open market this spring. He’d be a top-50 player, even after a down year. Who would be lighting up his agent’s phone with contract offers?