If there’s one thing the 2020 Dallas Cowboys dealt with in abundance it was injuries, especially to key offensive personnel. Dak Prescott, Tyron Smith, and Blake Jarwin all suffered season-ending injuries by October. Zack Martin didn’t take a snap after Thanksgiving, Ezekiel Elliott had a calf issue, and La’el Collins was out for the entire season.
As the Cowboys turn the page to next season, it appears another key starter on offense was dealing with an injury in 2020. Wide receiver Amari Cooper posted via his Instagram account that he had successful surgery on Thursday.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver posted this on his Instagram story on Thursday.
"Surgery was a success."
(via @AmariCooper9) pic.twitter.com/P1zz4bkCRt
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) January 7, 2021
According to Brianna Dix of D210Sports, Cooper had an ankle clean up procedure done. Although he did appear to injure his right ankle in the season finale against the New York Giants, no details had been reported as to what specifically caused the injury. He is expected to be ready to go by time offseason workouts begin.
Cooper had a career-high in yards (1,189), touchdowns (8), and yards per catch (15.1) in 2019 which led to his five-year, $100 million dollar extension in the offseason. He followed it up with another productive year in 2020 as he hit the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth time in six seasons (1,114) and set a new career-high in receptions with 92.
The four-time Pro Bowl selection was on a near 1,400-yard pace in the first five games before Prescott went down. The fact that he played with three additional quarterbacks (Andy Dalton, Garrett Gilbert, Ben DiNucci) and still was as productive as he was is quite impressive. He also did so alongside a solid alternate options in Michael Gallup, and a near 1,000-yard rookie in CeeDee Lamb.
There weren’t many bright spots for the Cowboys in 2020 but Cooper was one of them. Not many receivers could lose a quarterback of Prescott’s caliber and almost catch 100 passes.
Cooper certainly validated his contract in the first year.
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