In the overall pantheon of talented NFL receivers, it’s confounding how often people forget Amari Cooper.
He’s only 27, has made four Pro Bowls, and is still more than capable of taking over a game as a No. 1 weapon for a playoff team. Players like him aren’t supposed to be free agents. Players like him are supposed to wear one team’s uniform for a decade.
Four years ago, Las Vegas (then in Oakland) traded Cooper to the Cowboys for a first-round pick. That selection turned into Jonathan Abram (zero Pro Bowls, three career interceptions). On Saturday afternoon, Dallas traded the accomplished Cooper to the Browns. I guess the Raiders and Cowboys are used to upending stellar one-jersey careers.
Why was a dynamic talent like Cooper so available, for so little, with seemingly so much left in the tank? In a word: Dollars.
And why are the Browns, two months removed from a disappointing 8-9 campaign, trading for receivers? In two words: Baker Mayfield.
Let’s examine the moving parts of this trade and determine who got the better of the other:
Dallas Cowboys receive: 2022 fifth and sixth-round pick, financial flexibility
Cleveland Browns receive: WR Amari Cooper, 2022 sixth-round pick
Cowboys grade: C
Death, taxes, and the Dallas Cowboys shooting themselves in the foot for preventable reasons.
Roughly two months after a one-and-done playoff run, the Cowboys were in the negative in salary-cap space, per Over The Cap. Cooper’s cap hit for the 2022 season is $20 million. You do the math. Go ahead. I’ll give you all the time you need.
Now, that might be oversimplifying matters. Because the issue with this deal is that receivers like Cooper don’t grow on trees. If you have one under contract with your franchise, you will do well not to trade him for late-round picks that, very likely, won’t amount to anything. Spoiler alert: Mystery boxes typically have nothing worthwhile inside. The NFL is an offensive league built around playmakers. The moment you lose one, for minimal return, due to something as silly and preventable as salary cap management, it’s going to sting.
Almost by default, the Cowboys will be an NFC contender in 2022. Aside from the defending Super Bowl champion Rams, the Packers with Aaron Rodgers, and maybe even the 49ers with Trey Lance, there’s no one worth writing home about on this side of the NFL. If you’re playing third or fourth fiddle as Dallas is likely to, you’ll probably be okay.
But the folks in Arlington have higher aspirations than winning the NFC East again. Trading a playmaker like Cooper, making the league’s No. 6 offense in DVOA last year markedly worse, simply because you got a bit reckless with contracts, hurts that mission. It doesn’t matter how good CeeDee Lamb is:
The best offenses, Super Bowl offenses, have multiple high-end options.
Dak Prescott forever.
CeeDee Lamb forever.
Dallas Cowboys forever.
(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/SideuQ9loM
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) October 17, 2021
Dallas doesn’t have the cap space to replace Cooper’s talent right away. They merely have the cap space to enter a new league year with clean books and add depth weapons to compensate. Yay, fun, bookkeeping to stay financially compliant. What sports are all about!
Browns grade: A
One man’s financial missteps are another man’s treasure. That’s the saying. It rolls off the tongue.
The Cowboys getting willy nilly with their cap space to the point where they have to release a Pro Bowl receiver in his prime is to the tremendous benefit of a team like the Browns. Cleveland need only had been ready to pounce on the opportunity when Dallas started shopping Cooper around.
It gives them one last chance to see what Baker Mayfield is all about. It’s easy to forget that many thought the Browns would make a Super Bowl last year, but there were unexpected roadblocks. For one, mainly, the former No. 1 overall pick essentially played an entire year with a separated throwing shoulder. I’m not a medical expert, but that’s probably going to affect your play.
Despite such a handicap, Cleveland still finished No. 14 in offensive DVOA (primarily thanks to Nick Chubb) and had the No. 18 in passing offense. Now imagine the potential of an offense with someone dynamic like Cooper in the fold. Two late-round draft selections for a talented and seasoned playmaker — with three years left on his contract — is a bargain to see if your quarterback is still worth keeping.
Acquiring Cooper means the Browns aren’t giving up on this current iteration of their roster. Anything else would be a silly measure (not to mention that they don’t have the resources to do so). Cleveland has one of the league’s premier offensive lines and a defense stacked with game-breakers like Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward. They deserve one more run before blowing up the foundation.
.@Flash_Garrett's Top 10 Plays of the 2021 season 😤
📹 via @NFL pic.twitter.com/K6KwrMLiBr
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) March 5, 2022
Seriously: I’m doing everything in my power to make sure the guy above has a chance to win from year to year.
I do have my reasonable doubts that Mayfield is The Guy in Cleveland. But you don’t tear down these sorts of operations on a whim. An injury-plagued year for the most important player is a de facto hall pass for at least one more Hail Mary. Cooper won’t rescue Mayfield and the Browns offense alone. But he might be enough to help them reach the expectations they fell short of last fall.
