The Dallas Cowboys have acquired Amari Cooper from the Oakland Raiders for a 2019 1st round pick. With the move, the Dallas Cowboys have added a crucial piece missing from their offense…a true #1 WR. The Amari Cooper trade clearly upgrades the Dallas Cowboys offense and gives Dak Prescott a legitimate deep threat and an established route runner. The cost, a 1st round draft pick, was far too high of price to pay and that will become more and more evident come April of 2019.
For the time being in 2018, the Amari Cooper trade does make the Dallas Cowboys a better team. Despite his inconsistency, and despite his current struggles, Amari Cooper is still better than any WR currently on the Dallas Cowboys roster. He is also a better player at this point in his career than former Cowboys #1 WR Dez Bryant. Cooper has struggled with drops in Oakland but the current crop of Cowboys WR’s have also struggled in that area. What separates Amari Cooper from the rest of the group is his talent. Amari Cooper has the speed and ability to get open that opposing defenses have to respect. If they don’t respect him he has the ability to win one and one and take the top off of the defense. The extra attention that he should demand could undoubtedly open things up for the other receivers on the roster. Even if Amari Cooper does not produce like a number one receiver his presence should positively impact guys like Michael Gallup and Allen Hurns who have seen limited targets thus far. Finally the Dallas Cowboys have added a player that can really make teams pay for loading up the box against Ezekiel Elliott.
The Amari Cooper trade no doubt makes the Dallas Cowboys better but it does not solve all of their problems on offense. Amari Cooper will not improve their pass protection or impact the play calling and clock management but in theory he could help Dak Prescott get the ball out of his hands earlier. Perhaps Cooper could quickly evolve into a guy that Dak trusts which will help him be more decisive and get the ball out quicker. If that happens, opposing teams will be less likely to bring additional pressure to rattle Dak in obvious passing situations.
Clearly the Amari Cooper trade makes the Dallas Cowboys better in 2018, but how does it impact their future? Financially it does not make a whole lot of sense. Currently, Cooper is playing on his rookie contract and his impact on the 2018 salary cap is minimal but there are only 9 games left in the season. At the conclusion of the season, the Cowboys will have the choice on whether or not to exercise Cooper’s 5th year option but if they do retain him the cost will be significant in 2019. Beyond that, Cooper will become a free agent and is due to make significant money on a long term contract. In contrast, a first round pick in 2019 would be locked in for 4 years at a discount and there would be a 5th year option available after that as well. In 2019 the Dallas Cowboys are going to have a lot more cap space than they have in past years but they still have to sign Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott to long term deals and they have to make decisions on Demarcus Lawrence and Byron Jones among other key contributors. Cooper potentially represents another mouth to feed and a big one at that so this move does not help the Dallas Cowboys salary cap situation for the future.
How then does the Amari Cooper trade impact the long term future of the Dallas Cowboys? They have surrendered a 1st round pick in exchange for player in his prime. The advantage of the trade for Dallas is that Amari Cooper is a known commodity while a draft pick, even a first rounder, has the potential to be a total bust ie. Morris Claiborne 2012. To be fair though, Amari Cooper does not come without risk either. He has regressed statistically the last 2 seasons and a change in scenery or scheme does not always work out well for players even if the talent is there. The two teams involved in this deal can attest to this with DeMarco Murray and Randy Moss being prime examples. The Amari Cooper experiment could fail as miserably as the Joey Galloway and Roy Williams deals did for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. At least with the 1st round pick you have 4 to 5 years to find out. When it comes to 1st round picks, aside from Morris Claiborne, the Dallas Cowboys have accumulated a pretty good track record during the Jason Garrett era.
| Year | Cowboys #1 Draft Pick |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Tyron Smith |
| 2013 | Travis Frederick |
| 2014 | Zack Martin |
| 2015 | Byron Jones |
| 2016 | Ezekiel Elliott |
| 2017 | Taco Charlton |
| 2018 | Leighton Vander Esch |
Add to that the fact that if the season ended today the Cowboys would hold the #13 pick overall and if things go south they could easily end up with a top 10 draft pick then this trade starts to look less and less appealing. Especially considering that with a draft pick the Cowboys have the luxury of selecting the best player available instead of reaching for a WR, which is essentially what the Cowboys have done here. If the Dallas Cowboys end up letting Amari Cooper walk in free agency they will at least receive a compensatory pick down the road but that would amount to a 3rd round pick at best. In that scenario giving up a 1st rounder for a future 3rd rounder for a player that would ultimately be a rental does not seem like fair compensation for the Cowboys.
The only way the Dallas Cowboys win this trade is if Amari Cooper completely balls out AND the best player that would have been available for the Cowboys had they retained their 2019 draft pick does not. Other than that, anything short of the Cowboys winning the Super Bowl will result in the Dallas Cowboys losing the Amari Cooper trade. Is Amari Cooper the missing piece that will make the Dallas Cowboys a Super Bowl contender? I think they are still a few pieces short of completing that puzzle.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode