Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is frustrated with a whole lot of things after his team’s disappointing opening-round playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Among the things disappointing him at the moment is wide receiver Amari Cooper.
“Amari Cooper should take half the field with him when he runs a route,” Jones said during his weekly radio appearance, per The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “A whole bunch of that defense ought to have to honor Cooper. He ought to be able to catch it in the middle when they’re going with him. Others do. You throw to people that are covered all the time.”
Cooper, whom the Cowboys acquired from the Raiders in exchange for their 2019 first-round pick during a midseason trade in 2018, is coming off his worst season as a Cowboy. He finished the 2021 season with just 68 receptions for 865 yards and eight touchdowns while playing in 15 of 17 games.
Prior to 2021, however, Cooper totaled 224 receptions for 3,028 yards and 19 touchdowns in 41 games with Dallas.
Cooper signed a five-year, $100 million contract prior to the 2020 season. Jones level of frustration makes you think the team could actually move on from Cooper and save $16 million against the cap in the process.
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However, it should be noted that Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson are both free agents this offseason. Gallup tore his ACL at the end of this season and might not be ready for the beginning of next year. Wilson might be playing elsewhere.
Not to mention, Ezekiel Elliott is not going to turn back into the back he once was. The team re-structured Elliott’s contract extension before it even kicked in, so it makes almost impossible to move on from him without an enormous financial penalty.
