Amari Cooper Trade: Cowboys Admit Mistake? Or Shift Blame?

Dallas Cowboys management is speaking frankly about the controversial decision to trade Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns for a fifth-round pick and a sixth-round pick swap.

FRISCO - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is stuck on his "no regrets'' answer when it comes to the controversial 2022 offseason decision to trade Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns for a fifth-round pick and a sixth-round pick swap.

COO Stephen Jones comes in slightly to the left of that.

But that does that mean Stephen is willing to admit that the trade in general was an ill-advised one?

Not exactly.

It's "probably fair,'' Stephen tells ESPN in a Scouting Combine conversation in Indianapolis, to criticize Dallas for the trade - but not in the sense most in Cowboys Nation think.

Jones isn't conceding to the idea that Dallas should've retained Cooper and his $20 million APY price tag.

Nor is he admitting that getting a bag of beans in trade for a four-time Pro Bowl receiver is a gaffe.

No, Stephen's admission is about the team overrating the moves it made to replace Cooper - meaning the high expectations for wideouts Michael Gallup and Jalen Tolbert were not met.

"I think Gallup, we probably should've been a little more conservative," Stephen Jones said, per ESPN's Todd Archer. "You know, most guys come off an ACL, especially skill guys, maybe takes a little time. ""I think Gallup's going to be back [in form in 2023]," Jones continued. "But getting a little confidence in our drafting, thinking Tolbert could step right in and do some things. I think it just sometimes takes a little longer with the receivers."

Yeah, but ... That's not really an admission of a mistake. Indeed, it's almost a shifting of blame to Gallup and Tolbert - which puts Stephen back in the same boat with Jerry.

Jerry Jones said he has no regrets trading Amari Cooper. However what was left at that position didn’t produce enough. pic.twitter.com/IpzIta3c5n

— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) February 1, 2023

The day after agreeing to trade Cooper, the Cowboys re-signed Gallup, who'd torn his ACL late in the 2021 season, to a five-year extension worth $62.5 million.

Gallup experienced a subpar year highlighted by four TD catches.

Tolbert was a third-round pick from South Alabama who had only three targets during his rookie season, catching two passes for 12 yards.

Cooper, meanwhile - despite the "shrinkage'' problem that Cowboys management tagged him with in Dallas (CowboysSI.com broke the story of Dallas' unhappiness with Cooper and explains it here) - had 1,160 receiving yards and a career-high nine touchdowns with Cleveland.

Jerry is correct in saying that Amari's $20 million was spent elsewhere on the way to building a 12-5 playoff roster. But otherwise?

Is Cowboys management truly in denial about its role in the failure of the complete package of moves that resulted in Cooper producing elsewhere and his replacements producing too little, all while Dallas got nothing in return for the trade?

If so, in terms of talent evaluation and self-scouting, that may represent a much bigger problem that specifically replacing Amari Cooper - which Cowboys management is about to attempt to do all over again this offseason.

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