Cowboys Insult: Amari Cooper Not Among NFL's 20 Best WRs?

How does ESPN's rankings of receivers, composed thanks to votes from NFL executives, coaches, scouts, and players, not even mention Amari Cooper?

FRISCO - Serving as a perfect example of the mind-bending exercise that is determining whether "They Hate Us'' or "We're Homers'' is the outside-of-Dallas opinion of Dallas Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper.

Here inside The Star? The Cowboys feel good about Cooper having lived up to both his trade price (that first-round pick given to the Raiders) and his cap price (he continues on this year as a $20 mil APY pass-catcher).

Inside the fan base? Our sense is that while Cowboys fans are excited about the rise of CeeDee Lamb (a level of excitement that also exists inside team HQ) there is also a respect for the fact that Cooper plays hurt every week, puts up big numbers, is not a diva and is at age 27 a four-time Pro Bowler.

So how does ESPN's rankings of receivers, composed thanks to votes from NFL executives, coaches, scouts, and players, not even mention Amari Cooper?

ESPN's top 10:

Davante Adams, Green Bay Packers

DeAndre Hopkins, Arizona Cardinals

Stefon Diggs, Buffalo Bills

Tyreek Hill, Kansas City Chiefs

Julio Jones, Tennessee Titans

Kennan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers

Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Michael Thomas, New Orleans Saints

DK Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks

A.J. Brown, Tennessee Titans

There is, of course, nothing "wrong'' with that list. Nor is there anything "wrong'' with the handful of "other wide receivers who received votes: Calvin Ridley (Atlanta Falcons), Allen Robinson II (Chicago Bears), Odell Beckham Jr. (Cleveland Browns), Justin Jefferson (Minnesota Vikings), Cooper Kupp (Los Angeles Rams), Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Adam Thielen (Minnesota Vikings), Terry McLaurin (Washington Football Team), Jarvis Landry (Cleveland Browns).

How can nobody mention Cooper?

We could write about how these evaluations are all wrong. But assuming some level of trust for ESPN's process here, yeah, one wonders if Cowboys Nation thinking this list absurd for omitting Cooper is because Cowboys Nation is guilty of homerism.

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In the end, what will matter is that the combination of Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb is collectively superior to the DBs covering them, and that their performance adds up to wins. The Cowboys want to be on the top of the end-of-season standings, not on top of the preseason lists.

But in the meantime, the gap between "What We Think'' and "What They Think'' is a wide one. And an odd one.

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