Tag: Amari Cooper contract

Why the Cardinals are an ideal landing spot for WR Amari Cooper

The Dallas Cowboys are expected to release or trade Pro Bowl wideout Amari Cooper. Does this make sense for the Cardinals?

ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke some surprising news out of the NFL combine Friday morning: Star wideout Amari Cooper of the Dallas Cowboy is likely to be released.

Cooper has been one of the league’s premier receivers for some time but saw a down year in what otherwise was a prolific Cowboys offense. It appears as if Jerry Jones and company are not willing to pay the $20 million cap hit of Cooper’s contract, in favor of bringing back Michael Gallup on a multi-year extension.

Schefter reported the Cowboys will attempt to trade Cooper, but that it appears unlikely due to a team having to take on his massive contract signed in the 2020 offseason. He’ll undoubtedly have multiple suitors and a competitive market.

The Arizona Cardinals have a pressing need at outside receiver. Amari Cooper would be a home-run signing for the recently extended general manager Steve Keim. It’s a position the Cardinals have struggled to find stability dating back to Larry Fitzgerald’s prime. At 27 years old, a pairing of Cooper and DeAndre Hopkins would give the Cardinals an explosive offense capable of taking the team to new heights.

Cooper’s market value is projected around $17 million annually. It’s a tough ask with all the needs the Cardinals need to fill in one offseason. Still, with a backloaded contract similar to the deal J.J. Watt signed last year, it could work.

It’s also possible DeAndre Hopkins would re-work his own deal to accommodate Cooper. Last offseason, he alluded to a potential contract re-structure during his efforts to recruit former Falcons All-Pro Julio Jones.

Hopkins was pivotal in Arizona’s acquisition of both Watt and fellow wideout A.J. Green. He could once again prove invaluable in Arizona’s recruiting efforts this year.

Cooper has four 1,000-yard seasons and has primarily operated as the Raiders and Cowboys’ No. 1 receiver. While he did play alongside the emerging CeeDee Lamb last year, he has never played with another wideout like Hopkins in the NFL.

A.J. Green, despite his ups and downs, was able to put up more than 800 yards receiving in this offense. Amari Cooper’s production would explode, and the Cards would have one of the NFL’s premier wide receiver duos.

A viable contract for Cooper could be a three-year, $45 million deal with one voided year on the back end. He gets $16 million to sign and $4 million in salary in 2022, giving him the $20 million in cash he would have received had the Cowboys kept him. His cap hit would be $8 million in 2022.

The NFC West is the best division in football partially due to the wide receiver talent. The Rams have Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham. The 49ers have Deebo Samuel and George Kittle while the Seahawks boast D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. As of today, the Cardinals just don’t have that consistent second playmaker. They’ll need one to take the NFC West title that slipped through their fingers last January.

The Rams are all in. Are the Cardinals?

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Amari Cooper: ‘I’m not surprised,’ about sweeping coaching changes, wants back in Dallas

Amari Cooper is a free agent this offseason, how will both he and the Cowboys handle that?

Since the start of 2018, the Dallas Cowboys have changed in drastic ways. Two of the biggest alterations were trading for Amari Cooper halfway through 2018, and bringing Mike McCarthy aboard as the head coach this offseason. The marriage of the two events puts the former in a unique situation.

Cooper is used to regime changes, and he won’t have much of a chance to get to know the new Cowboys coaching staff before making a huge decision as a pending free agent. On Thursday, he made it clear he has been happy in his home of the last year and a half, but there are still a lot of moving parts in his potential return to the Cowboys in 2020.

When asked about if he wants to be back in Dallas, the always calm and quiet Cooper gave Cowboys fans a reassuring answer: “I do,” Cooper said. “I mean that wholeheartedly. I love Dallas.”

But Cooper did also mention that he and his agent have not been in contact regarding his impending contract situation.

Cooper made a career-high $5.6 million last year and finished with a career-high 1,189 yards and eight receiving touchdowns, making him one of the best values in the league. Now it’s time for him to cash in. Currently, two wide receivers make over $18 million; Atlanta’s Julio Jones at $22 million and New Orleans’ Michael Thomas at $19.25 million, while Odell Beckham Jr. and Tyreek Hill are right at the $18 million mark. This is perceived to be the range Cooper may approach, but it hasn’t happened yet.

This week at the 2020 Pro Bowl Cooper has heard his fair share of contract questions, but seems to be virtually unfazed by his uncertain future. When asked again after Thursday’s practice Cooper said, “I’m just taking it day by day,” “I don’t really feel like there’s nothing that’s imminent. I’m not anxious, I’m not apprehensive. I’m just living life.”

Cooper would go on in the same interview to say that an extra $1 million or $2 million dollars doesn’t mean as much to him as being in the right environment. Part of that right environment starts with the quarterback, as any smart receiver knows that the QB is the most crucial teammate to his success. Cooper even touched on the success of Dak Prescott and himself, calling their relationship “symbiotic.”

Another important relationship for any receiver is with the coaching staff, but Cooper hasn’t been able to get any kind of consistency there.

“I’m not surprised,” Amari Cooper said when asked about the massive assistant coaching changes following the hiring of new head coach, Mike McCarthy. That of course includes the removal of his WR coach, Sanjay Lal.

“That’s usually what happens when a head coach gets fired… he isn’t going to want to inherit a whole lot of coaches. He has to make sure everyone he has in place is on the same page as him.”

Cooper is all too familiar with staff and scheme changes. If the Cowboys retain Cooper, McCarthy would be Cooper’s 4th head coach in only six seasons, so he has became accustomed to the chaos that can be caused by entering a new system.

With McCarthy comes a number of other coaching changes, including new wide receiver coach Adam Henry.

Henry is experienced, working 23 straight seasons as an NFL or college offensive assistant, primarily at WR coach. Henry was with the Cleveland Browns this past season, and worked with Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry at LSU before teaming up in Cleveland with them again. Cooper said he hadn’t yet gotten the chance, but would like to chat with his fellow wideouts about the Cowboys new coach, to get a feel for Henry’s coaching style.

Not everything will be brand new if Cooper returns, of course. Kellen Moore returning as offensive coordinator will also clearly help Cooper feel familiar with the new Dallas system, at least more so than if McCarthy had went in a new direction there as well.  There will be a merging of McCarthy’s preferred West Coast style, but it will be channeled through Moore.

A full season has now passed for Cooper and Dallas, and the star wideout is coming off his rookie deal and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. The Cowboys could also franchise tag Cooper, at $16 million a year, which would remove the decision-making process from the player’s hands altogether. Cooper acknowledges he could be tagged, but clearly would prefer the long-term deal.

For most NFL stars, a new regime might make them feel differently about a team, or at the very least make you hesitant about re-signing there. For the calm and collected Cooper, one gets the sense this newest coaching change is just like any other, and this won’t effect his decision too much.

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Amari Cooper’s agent changing agencies could ramp up contract talks

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper’s agent is on the move, and that may mean contract talks will resume.

The Dallas Cowboys were expected to lock up several members of their youthful core to long term deals in the past off-season. They got some accomplished, but others lingered into the 2019 season.

One assumption was that wide receiver Amari Cooper would be one of the easier contracts to complete as he wouldn’t “reset the market” as it were. It turns out the delay could be tied directly to his agent’s place of employment.

 

How much this stalled the negotiations is unclear.

Prior to the year, he wasn’t thought of as one of the elite wideouts in the league. Prior to the year.

It’s very much both possible and plausible Cooper has been prepared to play out the string all along, knowing his play would speak for itself in 2019, resulting in an even bigger payday. He wouldn’t be wrong.

Cooper has been effective ever since arriving in Dallas during last season’s bye week. And as good as he was last year, the connection between he and quarterback Dak Prescott is even better now. He’s on pace to set career highs in every major statistical category after pulling in 56 catches for 886 yards and seven touchdowns through 10 games despite dealing with nagging injuries since August.

At some point, Cooper will get the extension he’s earned. It would be bad business to let a player walk given the circumstances it took to acquire him and the performance he’s put out afterwards. Hopefully this news will allow the contract talks to resume to keep him in the fold for the foreseeable future.

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