INDIANAPOLIS — Two years of decision-making from the Cowboys front office have exposed a hesitancy to commit to wide receiver Amari Cooper’s place on the 2022 team.
A potential separation in the next couple weeks is not smoke. It is fire.
Another log was tossed Monday.
Following a Competition Committee meeting at the NFL combine, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones declined to commit to Cooper’s place on the club next season. Cooper is scheduled to collect a $20 million salary that will become fully guaranteed if he is still on the roster March 20.
Wide receiver Michael Gallup, tight end Dalton Schultz and wide receiver Cedrick Wilson are among the Cowboys’ offensive position players who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on March 16. Gallup underwent Feb. 10 surgery for a torn ACL.
Unable to retain everyone, Dallas can clear at least $16 million in 2022 cap space by releasing or trading Cooper before the deadline.
Jones was directly asked Monday if he expects Cooper on the roster in 2022.
“It’s too early for me to address that yet,” Jones said. “We’re continuing to have conversations. A lot of things affect that in terms of, obviously, we’ve been so fortunate those three great receivers (Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Gallup). Obviously, that is hard to keep doing under a salary cap.
“Certainly, Ced did a really nice job for us, and he’s up. There are some moving parts to that, that we’ll have to continue to massage as we move forward.”
In March 2020, the Cowboys were very mindful when structuring a contract extension for Cooper.
They knew Gallup was due to hit free agency this offseason and figured, with quarterback Dak Prescott commanding top dollar by this point on his second contract, it would be challenging to carry both Cooper and Gallup in 2022.
The team wanted to set up a decision.
To achieve that, Dallas gave Cooper just a $10 million signing bonus on his five-year, $100 million contract and assigned a roster condition on all guarantee money owed to Cooper in 2022. These components of his contract structure allow the Cowboys to part from Cooper before March 20 and absorb just a $6 million penalty, at most, against their 2022 salary cap.
The penalty drops to $2 million if Cooper is designated a post-June 1 release; the other $4 million would be pushed into the 2023 cap.
The Cowboys then performed several restructures on different players’ deals, activating what is termed an “automatic conversion” clause in each contract. Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, left tackle Tyron Smith, right guard Zack Martin and right tackle La’el Collins all had their deals reworked.
The front office pushed money into the future at least once on each contract, effectively strengthening its future cap attachment to those players.
The Cowboys didn’t touch Cooper’s contract.
Cooper is coming off a season in which his production disappointed for myriad reasons. Those include the fact he missed two games and barely played a third because of COVID-19. Also, the team desired to spread the football, not forcing it to a player when the coverage sought to take him away.
Cooper managed 68 catches for 865 yards and eight touchdowns.
He often freed up teammates with the attention he attracted from defenses. Still, it can be argued the Cowboys did not receive bang for their buck the way a $20 million-per-year receiver should impact a team.
If offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s system is not designed to lean on Cooper like he is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, there might not be sense in paying him like he is one.
“We go through all that,” Jones said. “Not going to get into it individually, but yes, all that plays into how we invest.”
Jones declined Monday to disclose whether a pay cut would be asked of Cooper. If that is the club’s desire, it likely would be broached with Cooper’s agent here at the combine. Chafie Fields, from Wasserman Media Group, represents Cooper.
The team plans to hold formal meetings with a couple dozen agents this week, Jones said.
“Like I said, I don’t want to address any of that, in terms of the details of anybody’s contract or who’s going to be here and who’s not going to be here,” Jones said. “That’s a work in progress for us right now.”
The fire grows.
