Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Explains Amari Cooper Trade, Faith in CeeDee Lamb

Was Amari Cooper worthy of $20 million APY to do that job in 2022? Easy answer to Jones: He certainly would not be.

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Some are making this too complicated.

Can CeeDee Lamb star as the Dallas Cowboys' No. 1 receiver? Easy answer to owner Jerry Jones: He certainly will be.

Was Amari Cooper worthy of $20 million APY to do that job in 2022? Easy answer to Jones: He certainly would not be.

Said Jones on Monday from the NFL annual meetings here in Palm Beach, Florida: “We made a decision that that allocation should be better spent.”

See? It’s not that complicated - no matter how one might disagree with the evaluation.

Additionally, Dallas' salary-dump trade of receiver Cooper to the Cleveland Browns was doable in part because of the expectations placed on Lamb, their first-round pick in 2020.

Said Jones when asked if Lamb’s ready to be WR1? “Absolutely.”

It should be a natural ascension: Lamb, selected in the No. 17 slot, was the No. 3 player on the Dallas board in that NFL Draft. He's made a Pro Bowl. He's made spectacular plays. He's been anointed into "The 88 Club'' by predecessors Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin and Dez Bryant ...

And Cowboys owner Jones, who envisioned the marketing value of another member of that club and therefore pushed the Oklahoma product Lamb into taking that jersey.

By trading Cooper, the Cowboys opened up $16 million in cap room; that's just business, as much as it at least temporarily weakens the roster. And there are plans to reload with the re-signing of injury-rehabbing Michael Gallup, Dallas and the signing of Steelers ex James Washington.

But in the end, it's CeeDee Lamb's time. It has to be.

In his first two NFL seasons, Lamb has 153 catches for 2,037 yards and 11 touchdowns. In 2021, was named to the Pro Bowl in 2021 (as an alternate) after a fine season of 79 receptions for 1,102 yards and six touchdowns.

But along with the spectacular catches has come some inconsistency. He's struggled mostly with some drops. And no matter who's to blame, he's had some games where he's been invisible - most recently Dallas' Wild Card loss to the Niners in which he caught one pass for 21 yards.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on not returning WR Amari Cooper, who was due a $20M salary with $22M cap hit unless team restructured him: “We made a decision that that allocation should be better spent.”

— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) March 28, 2022

The Cowboys have Dak Prescott a $40 million-a-year contract last March with the belief that he would be the centerpiece of a consistently explosive offense. Dallas has achieved "explosiveness'' ... but not "consistency.''

And the same thing goes for Lamb.

The Cowboys are retooling the receivers room. They also evaluated the idea of “top-10 money” for certain players, and again, agree or not, Jones said Cooper fell short.

 “We have to make sure that any one of those players are pulling as much weight as you can,” he said, “You’ve got to be judicious how you add a top 10-paid player.”

So out goes Cooper. And up comes Lamb. It’s not that complicated.