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Jerry Jones Pressed on Whether He Regrets Amari Cooper Trade

Head scratching would be the way to describe the Amari Cooper trade. Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones decided to ship off the star wide receiver to Cleveland this past offseason, receiving a fifth-round pick and swapping sixth-rounders.

Jones was pressed on the trade recently at the Senior Bowl and admitted the production was not made up for this season. Dallas struggled to use their weapons at times, relying on the ground game with Tony Pollard too often.

Outside of CeeDee Lamb, nobody at wide receiver stepped up for the Cowboys. Having somebody such as Cooper would have massively helped.

“You could say we had too much reliance on what (Jalen) Tolbert could do,” Jones said. “Because we were high on him coming out. Thought he could immediately be a factor. We thought we could have better results relative to (Michael) Gallup as far as his rehab and where he is.”

Gallup was one of the year’s disappointments for Dallas, coming off a torn ACL. He was not the same receiver after being given an offseason extension, catching 39 passes for 424 yards (a career low) and four touchdowns.

As for Tolbert, a rookie out of South Alabama, he only made eight appearances. In those, he never played more than 50% of the team’s offensive snaps, finishing with two receptions on three targets and 12 yards.

Quite the Cooper replacement.

Jerry Jones Worried About Big Contract

But as usual with Jones, the reasoning had nothing to do with football. Moving on from Cooper was all about the money, something he admitted. Dallas had signed the wide receiver to a $20 million-a-year deal, something Jones was not willing to pay one player.

“The elephant in the room that you’re talking was — when I look at that salary that was involved, over $20 million a year,” Jones said. “I look at what we got with that salary to help this team that we wouldn’t have been able to have on this team had we kept it. I like what we did.”

Cooper was not a top-10 paid wide receiver this season, slotting in at No. 13. Miami’s Tyreek Hill is at the top of the market by recently signing a four-year, $120 million contract. Jones actually got Cooper at a good price.

Amari Cooper Continues To Be Successful Outside Of Dallas

The then-Oakland Raiders dealt Cooper to Dallas during the 2018 season for a first-round pick. He instantly improved the Cowboys’ offense and propelled them into a playoff win. The $20 million extension Jones refers to came during the pandemic, when Cooper turned down more money from Washington to remain in Dallas.

Production came easily with Prescott, having three straight 1,000-yard seasons before 2021. While the streak may have been broken, Cooper still finished with 865 yards and Lamb took over as the team’s leading receiver. The slight dip must have been enough for Jones, shipping Cooper off to Cleveland for a measly fifth-round pick.

Dallas wound up selecting North Dakota State offensive tackle Matt Waletzko with the selection. He only saw action in three games this season, all at the beginning of the year.

To no surprise, Cooper continued his top-level production with the Browns. And that’s with a dysfunctional quarterback room with Jacoby Brissett and Deshaun Watson. He posted another 1,000-yard year with 1,160 and then a career-high nine touchdowns.

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