Amari Cooper Future? Dallas Cowboys Source Reveals Truth

“Gut feelings” and “guesses” are fine. But inside The Star?

FRISCO - There is certainly a place for “gut feelings and guesses” when it comes to decisions like the one facing the Dallas Cowboys regarding wide receiver Amari Cooper. 

“”Gut feelings and guesses” are part of the fun of the NFL offseason.

But “fun” aside, the Cooper decision is a serious and pivotal one. And assorted reports aside, it is a decision that two NFL sources tell us has yet to be finalized.

“We’re thinking it through,” one team source told CowboysSI.com on Wednesday.

Cooper had the first two years of his five-year, $100 million contract guaranteed. But this offseason, there now exist escape hatches. This year's $20 million salary becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the league year in March. ... making March 5 a sort of "D'' (for "decision'') say.

Owner Jerry Jones' latest remarks lean toward the possibility of leaving the deal as is. Said Jones (via 105.3 The Fan): “The reason those contracts are being discussed is because they have two sides to them,” Jones said. "(But) you don’t just get up and take contracts or agreements with each other and just decide that because you’ve had a big (loss) at home that you’re going to change directions.”

Dallas had its "big loss'' in the season-ending playoff failure against San Francisco. That disappointment has colored everything about the Cowboys, and frankly, Cooper's numbers exist as a disappointment, too. Dallas views him - and he views himself - as a Pro Bowler who can catch 100 balls for 1,000 yards. During this regular season, he caught 68 passes for 865 yards and eight touchdowns.

Is Dallas disappointed enough to move on from Cooper, meaning there would only be $6 million in remaining dead money? That's a $14 million savings - but it would also create a void at the position. And re-signing injury-rehabbing free agent Michael Gallup might eat up all of that number.

There is another way: Cooper can he moved after June 1 with only $2 million of dead money remaining.

The Cowboys can of course say goodbye to Cooper and lean even more heavily on CeeDee Lamb and fill the rest of the wideout room with less pricy talent. But the original plan was to pay Cooper to be a $20 mil receiver and for him to produce that way.

Can't that plan still be fulfilled?

Cooper's view is fairly clear. 

“I don’t make those decisions,” he said of returning to Dallas. “I honestly don’t know, but hopefully.”

Part of his "hope''? He recently purchased a $6 million estate in North Texas, not the sort of thing a guy does when he's planning on moving.

But Cooper cannot fully know his fate yet. Nor can the "guts'' and the "guessers.'' Because the people who run the Dallas Cowboys are "thinking it through'' and therefore don't yet know themselves.

Follow FishSports on Twitter

Follow Cowboys / Fish on Facebook

Subscribe to the Cowboys Fish Report on YouTube for constant daily Cowboys live-stream podcasts and reports!