*Photo by Kieth Allison https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/
The Dallas Cowboys shocked the world this week by acquiring WR Amari Cooper for the hefty price of a 2019 1st round draft pick. The move has been interpreted in one of three ways by most supporters and critics alike.
1) The missing piece that will help lead the Cowboys to the playoffs.
2) An opportunity for Jason Garrett to prove himself worthy of remaining the head coach and for Dak Prescott to earn a long term contract without having any excuses.
3) Jerry Jones making yet another foolish and over ambitious trade for yet another underachieving wide receiver. (Please refer to the Joey Galloway and Roy Williams trades)
I have come to believe that the primary motivation was reason #1, sprinkled with a side of reason #2 but the end result may prove to be option #3.
The Dallas Cowboys currently have a 3-4 record and they trail the division leading Washington Redskins by 1.5 games. The Cowboys have failed to win a game on the road this season but they came close against the Houston Texans losing in overtime and came within a 52 yard kick that clanked off the upright from forcing overtime in the loss to the Redskins last week. The Cowboys were thoroughly dominated in both of those games but had opportunities to win nonetheless. A fair argument can be made that if the Dallas Cowboys had a weapon like Amari Cooper in those games they would be 5-2 right now and leading the division. Amari Cooper has had his struggles recently but he is an upgrade over any WR on the Dallas Cowboys roster and has the home run hitting ability that opposing defenses have to respect. The motivation for the Dallas Cowboys to be aggressive and overpay for Cooper can be justified here.
The most successful teams in the league right now are all teams that have aggressively sought after talent. The Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles were rewarded with the ultimate prize for their aggressive approach in the draft, free agency and via trade. The undefeated Los Angeles Rams have taken the same approach as have the 6-1 Kansas City Chiefs. Each of those teams dealt away 1st round draft picks to get their QB’s then made splash free agent signings and executed multiple trades to build around them. The difference though between the Dallas Cowboys and those teams is that the Cowboys are not as close as those teams were to becoming true contenders. The Eagles may have shocked a lot of people with how successful they were last year but that team was the deepest in the league at every position. They proved how deep they were after suffering multiple injuries across their roster and still managing to win a championship. The Dallas Cowboys on the other hand completely collapsed after losing some of their key players to injury or suspension. The Rams and Chiefs were both playoff teams last year and the moves they made are intended to get them over the hump and propel them to a championship. The Dallas Cowboys were not a playoff team last year and although they are still within reach of the playoffs this year, they have a losing record and a difficult schedule ahead.
The Dallas Cowboys did need an upgrade at the WR position and Amari Cooper is certainly that but he is not the answer to all of their problems. Dak Prescott has not been playing well either. He has been inaccurate, has been holding on to the ball too long and has been indecisive at times as well. That could all stem from the fact that he has not been comfortable in the pocket and that is directly related to another problem, the play of the offensive line. The OL have not played up to their usual standard and there are several reasons for that. They are missing Travis Frederick, they have a rookie Connor Williams starting at guard and the new technique that offensive line coach Paul Alexander has implemented has not benefited the current group especially Tyron Smith and La’el Collins. As for the defense, as well as they have played they are still weak at the safety spot and they have struggled to create turnovers. To make matter worse their best pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence is playing with a torn labrum. That is the same injury that he suffered in 2016 and he only recorded 1 sack that season. Even if the trade to the Dallas Cowboys rejuvenates Amari Cooper and he performs up to his potential, he cannot fix all of the problems the Cowboys have.
The Dallas Cowboys are not a single player away from becoming a championship team right now. Forfeiting their 2019 1st round pick was not a wise decision for the future of the franchise. But, what is done is done and there can be no turning back now. Ultimately, the trade for Amari Cooper could very well help the Dallas Cowboys win the division and make it to the playoffs. That may be only because the division is so weak right now but just getting there is invaluable experience for their young quarterback and the rest of their young core. Let us hope that is how it plays out because if the Amari Cooper experiment fails and the Raiders end up with a top 10 draft pick, it will take years for us Cowboys fans to get over it.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode