{"id":44873,"date":"2025-04-29T02:38:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T02:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=44873"},"modified":"2025-04-29T02:38:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T02:38:47","slug":"breaking-cowboys-signing-amari-cooper-in-reunion-could-be-dallas-final-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=44873","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys Signing Amari Cooper In Reunion Could Be Dallas&#8217; Final Hope.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"m-detail-header--dek\">There is a familiar face still on the free agency market, and the receiver-hungry Dallas Cowboys may come calling.<\/div>\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--flexbox\">\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--meta\">\n<div class=\"m-description--list\">\n<p>FRISCO &#8211; The\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0had an unsuccessful go at it in in free agency and in the\u00a0NFL Draft\u00a0regarding their efforts to land another starting-caliber wide receiver. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>An &#8220;explosive No. 2,&#8221; as COO Stephen Jones has so frankly stated it.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas saw little activity on the open market (but plenty of rumors), and picked zero receivers in the NFL Draft. Journeyman Parris Campbell, 27, was Dallas&#8217; lone external free agent receiver signing at the position and will play on his fourth team in the last four years.<\/p>\n<p>Oh,\u00a0Dallas did sign two receivers to un-drafted free agent deals\u00a0&#8230; but those won&#8217;t move any needle (if they even make the team).<\/p>\n<p>So who helps\u00a0CeeDee Lamb\u00a0carry the load for the Dak Prescott-led offense?<\/p>\n<p>CowboysCountry.com broke the story of the\u00a0Cowboys&#8217; puzzle-pieces interest in the likes of Pittsburgh&#8217;s George Pickens, and that sort of swap can still happen.<\/p>\n<p>But right now? Dallas&#8217; collection of wideouts &#8211;\u00a0Jalen Tolbert, Ryan Flournoy, Jalen Brooks, and Jonathan Mingo among them &#8211; does not dazzle.<\/p>\n<p>So Dallas keeps digging. Cowboys fans want to think big, but we are urging them to think smart.<\/p>\n<p>One name Cowboys Nation can&#8217;t stop talking about is Amari Cooper, the former Pro Bowl pass-catcher who spent four mostly-productive seasons in Dallas from 2018-2021.<\/p>\n<p>He was ultimately trade-dumped to the\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0before the 2022 season for reasons we called &#8220;shrinkage&#8221; &#8211; which is all about him failing to rise to the occasion like a $20 million player typically would and should. (By the way, that wasn&#8217;t our evalation; we broke that story of Dallas falling out of love with Cooper due to the scouting department&#8217;s unhappiness with him.)<\/p>\n<p>Could a Cooper reunion be in store for the Cowboys? They are as desperate as any for receiver help. It may not be\u00a0<em>super<\/em> smart, but maybe there&#8217;s no other choice?<\/p>\n<p>USA Today\u00a0thinks so: &#8220;Sure, Cooper has played for the Cowboys in the past, but a return to Dallas makes a ton of sense for both sides,&#8221; Cory Woodruff wrote. &#8220;The team needs depth at receiver, and Cooper could use a rebound season after a quiet 2024.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t think he understands what&#8217;s happening here.<\/p>\n<p>At $18.9 million a year (Cooper&#8217;s calculated market value on\u00a0Spotrac)?<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t think they understand what&#8217;s happening here.<\/p>\n<p>At a budget rate, in a desperate time? This is a &#8220;Never Say Never&#8221; league, so Dallas could take a bite.<\/p>\n<p>But Cooper, the five-time Pro Bowler about to turn 31, would surely become an unhappy camper making minimum wage.<\/p>\n<p>And the Cowboys coaching staff would surely become unhappy, too, when Amari chose to sit out practices when things aren&#8217;t going exactly right, injury-wise and otherwise, as he is prone to do.<\/p>\n<p>The Browns gave up on him. Cooper was dealt to the\u00a0Buffalo Bills\u00a0last season and was practically nonexistent in Buffalo&#8217;s end-of-season run. The Bills gave up on him.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas isn&#8217;t the only team that needs a receiver; why is the 12-year vet still a free agent.<\/p>\n<p>For Dallas fans excited who are excited about the possibility? We lean toward the side of caution and disinterest due to &#8220;shrinkage&#8221; concerns here.<\/p>\n<p>And so does the team that knows most about that &#8230; your Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a familiar face still on the free agency market, and the receiver-hungry Dallas Cowboys may come calling. FRISCO &#8211; The\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0had an unsuccessful go at&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Cowboys Signing Amari Cooper In Reunion Could Be Dallas&#039; Final Hope.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=44873\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Cowboys Signing Amari Cooper In Reunion Could Be Dallas&#039; Final Hope.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is a familiar face still on the free agency market, and the receiver-hungry Dallas Cowboys may come calling. 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