NFL Source: Dallas Cowboys Trying to Trade Amari Cooper

After signing a five-year contract in 2020, it's possible that Amari Cooper's career with Dallas could come to an end this offseason.

FRISCO - Amari Cooper's career with the Dallas Cowboys could be in jeopardy. Cooper is under contract for the next three seasons, but the Cowboys could release several players to clear cap space before the start of free agency on March 16.

Could Cooper be cut, as ESPN is now suggesting is "likely''? Sure; that's always been in play. But an NFL source tells CowboysSI.com that before Dallas does that, it will shop Cooper in an attempt to recoup some value in a trade. 

Cooper will carry a salary-cap hit of $22 million if he remains on Dallas' roster in 2022, versus a dead-cap number of $6 million - and $16 mil in savings - if traded or released before the league's new calendar year.

So for Dallas, there is the same value cap-wise, as long as Cooper is gone - and additional value if the Cowboys get anything at all in trade.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones has been sort of noncommittal on this, but with comments that also raise a question, in a sense, of who is at fault if this all goes sour.

"It’s too early for me to address that yet," Jones said Monday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "We’re continuing to have conversations. We've been so fortunate to have those three great receivers on our roster. And obviously, that’s hard to keep doing under a salary cap."

Amari Cooper

Amari Cooper

Amari Cooper

The Cowboys have three additional wide receivers set to become free agents in Michael Gallup, Cedrick Wilson and Malik Turner. A potential departure of Cooper could in theory allow Dallas to retain Gallup and Wilson for the 2022 season at the price of one — as the Cowboys can re-sign both receivers on team-friendly contracts. 

With Gallup coming off an ACL injury, Sportrac.com has Gallup's market value for an annual salary of $11.8 million. Wilson's projected market value is only half of Gallup's, set for a yearly salary of $6.4 million.

Cooper signed a five-year contract extension with the Cowboys worth $100 million in March of 2020. He was coming off a career season of 1,189 receiving yards on 79 catches, to go along with eight touchdowns during his first full campaign in Dallas. 

The Cowboys acquired the four-time Pro-Bowler in October of 2018 in a trade with the then-Oakland Raiders for a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. 

Cooper's on-field production declined in the 15 games he played in 2021. For the first time as a member of the Cowboys, he failed to reach 1,000 receiving yards. He ended the year with 68 catches for 865 yards, his lowest production since 2017.   

One reason for Cooper's slight drop was the emergence of CeeDee Lamb. The second-year wideout became the Cowboys' No. 1 receiver after Lamb recorded a team-best 1,102 yards on 79 catches and six touchdowns.

"I think it’s an offensive philosophy," Jones said. "When we had the skill players that we had between Kellen [Moore] and Dak, there was a progression of where you threw the ball. I think it’s more of a system deal. It wasn’t a thing where we said, 'Hey, we’re not going to target Amari as much.'"

OK. So the "progression'' was wrong? The "system'' is wrong? The "offensive philosophy'' is wrong? There is especially sense in parting ways with a $20 million wideout ... if the "progression,'' "system'' and "philosophy'' doesn't know how to use him.

And that "parting ways'' starts not with cutting Amari Cooper, but rather, with trying to trade him.