Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper’s name has been in the news plenty this offseason, as his expiring contract has left the front office with one of the biggest free agency decisions to make of any club in the league. But Cooper himself has been missing in action since catching a touchdown in the 2020 Pro Bowl back in late January.
The soft-spoken wideout emerged from exile (and a recent vacation to Bali) Thursday with a late-night call-in to Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan, where he dished on a wide range of topics, including his new head coach, last year’s injuries, fellow receiver Michael Gallup, cornerback Byron Jones, former Dallas star Dez Bryant, his relationship with his quarterback, and most notably, his future with the team.
“I love being a Dallas Cowboy,” Cooper said. “I love everything about it. I was just thinking about that today; I think about it almost every day, really. Primetime games: they play what seems like more night games than anybody, and that always feels good for a football player. Everything, the facility. I love it here in Frisco, where I stay at now. Just the aura of being a Dallas Cowboy. You can’t beat it. I want to be a Dallas Cowboy for life.”
That, of course, is now in the hands of the Jones family, who must decide whether to negotiate a deal with the 25-year-old Cooper, let him test the waters of free agency, or use a tag on him to lock up his services without all the financial back-and-forth.
The fact that the club is in the same position with quarterback Dak Prescott complicates matters somewhat for Cooper. But the former Oakland Raider said he feels that the chemistry he’s developed with Prescott in just a season and a half is something special. And continuing that QB/WR dynamic is a huge part of the reason he wants to stay in Dallas.
“It’s very important,” Cooper stated plainly. “We’ve built a good relationship so far. From the time I got here, we were able to hit the ground running. And just from my experience of being in the NFL, I wouldn’t say that that’s a common thing. Sometimes you can join up with a quarterback after they’re traded or going to a new team, whether it’s the draft or whatever, and [have] it not go so smooth. So I wouldn’t try to trade that for anything, because I know what can be on the other side of that.”
But roster turnover is a part of the business of pro football. Cooper cited a figure he’s often heard that suggests only 40% of a team’s roster stays the same from year to year. The five-year veteran knows many of his teammates won’t be back in Dallas next year.
As for Byron Jones, widely assumed to be a free agent signing elsewhere in 2020, Cooper has played against him every day in practice. And he says whichever team lands him will be getting a top-notch cornerback who’s among the best in the NFL.
“He stacks up well,” Cooper raved. “Byron is your prototypical corner. He’s long, but he’s also fast and quick. Very smart player. He works harder than anybody that I’ve ever gone against. You see him at every intermission in practice, he’s not taking a break. He’s working on his skills, you’ll see him on the side: footwork drills, stuff like that. He really wants to be that player. I think he’s proven it over the last couple of years that he wants to be that player, and he’s grown every year as a player. I think he’s going to continue to grow.”
Another young player expected to take a leap forward in 2020 is fellow wideout Michael Gallup. Gallup and Cooper both topped 1,000 receiving yards for the Cowboys in 2019, and Cooper sees big things still to come for the Colorado State product entering his third season.
“They say the biggest leap that a pro football player makes is between Year One and Year Two, and he was a display of that,” Cooper offered. “He had a decent rookie year for a wide receiver. Then he made a huge leap and had a thousand-plus yards. He showed that he had potential his rookie year, and then in Year Two, he proved that. He was reaching that ceiling, getting closer to it. Now it’s just about picking hairs for him. Now we can see that he’s going to be a great player… I’m excited to play with him for the next couple of years.”
Instead of stealing touches, Gallup’s ascension as a legitimate threat has arguably helped Cooper see more targets during games and vice versa. The more weapons for the defense to worry about, the more chances for everyone. Cowboys fans have been tantalized in recent weeks by the idea of former Dallas superstar Dez Bryant making a comeback to the team and being an additional threat in the passing game.
Cooper admitted that he’s been in contact with the 31-year-old Bryant and had perhaps a surprising opinion on bringing yet another able-bodied pass-catcher into the huddle.
“I think it would be great,” Cooper said. “Dez is a great player. I remember when I was in college, even my first couple years in the league, he was still considered one of the top five receivers in the game. I don’t think that’s something you just lose, especially with the way Dez’s game is. He’s one of those guys that goes up and attacks the ball, goes up and gets the ball, and I think he still has that. That’s not something you just lose. I think he can come back and be a dominant player, really, and if given the opportunity, he’d be able to do so… Of course, I would want to play with him.”
A Cooper-Bryant-Gallup package would be a nightmare for opposing secondaries. But such a trifecta of receivers would also give the Cowboys valuable depth at the position. Cooper fought through several nagging and mysterious injuries last season, and while he didn’t sit out any games, he was clearly not at full strength at times.
Cooper also played through pain in Oakland, but he says 2019 was different.
“I would say, actually, that this was the toughest season as far as battling with injuries,” Cooper confessed, contradicting the party line suggestion that his leg and foot issues last season were nothing extraordinary. “It was a real battle. But, hey, I got through it, and learned from it… I’m good now. I feel good, I run all the time and I’m working out, and I feel good.”
The four-time Pro Bowler says he’ll be 100% for Mike McCarthy, and he hopes the new Cowboys head coach can lead him and the team to new heights.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet,” Cooper said of McCarthy, ” but from what I can see, obviously the outside looking in, he’s an accomplished coach, he’s been to this stage before. It’s always good to have that experience on your side because you can learn from it. Like, I’ve never been to a Super Bowl before, I’ve never won a Super Bowl before. So to be a part of a potential culture that he’s bringing, I think it means the world.”
Over the course of the seventeen-minute conversation, Cooper spoke like the quintessential team player. There was no playing hardball about his money, no playing coy about what he thinks he’s worth, no veiled shots at the front office. Cooper sounded like someone who truly and genuinely wants to be a Cowboy in 2020. If he wanted to hit the open market and start a bidding war for his skills, his interview might have been with a national outlet. But by calling in to a Dallas radio station at 9 p.m. and answering every question like he was still auditioning for the job, it seemed to speak volumes. That he did it just days before the internal financial discussions ratchet up a notch with tag deadlines and free agency decisions can’t be a coincidence to a cerebral player who excels at locker-room chess.
By publicly reminding all of the Metroplex of what he brings to the table, Cooper may have just made a very strategic move. Soon it will be up to Jerry and Stephen Jones to decide if Cooper is simply a pawn that can be replaced with another piece… or if they need to pay him like a king.
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