You save 16m cutting Cooper. The dead money bit was immaterial to the argument. The problem is that after you cut Cooper and make a the cuts and reworks you need to make to get under the cap if you then sign Adams you are now out of money to spend in free agency and still have a swiss cheese roster with a defense that has 1 decent player in each layer and then nothing else. Instead of spending all your free agency money on one big player and hoping the holes in the team are not a factor, the Cowboys are better served signing 3 average starters so that good teams cannot exploit the massive weaknesses in the roster.
Not really. If Adams would sign for 20M AAV, then it's only a one time, 6M cost to make the change.
I expect Adams to get more than 20M, but probably not more than 24M on a long term contract.
DeAndre Hopkins: 2-years, $27.25 APY
Julio Jones: 3-years, $22M APY
I think Hopkins is only that much because it was a 2 year deal.
It would basically cost the Cowboys 1 mid-level player that they can't re-sign.
On many snaps, the 49ers had 2 defenders completely dedicated to covering Adams.
- When he gets single coverage, Rodgers just throws him the ball even when the DB has the leverage advantage.
I'm not normally an advocate of signing free agent to mega-contracts, but in this situation with Cooper already at 20M, the extra cost seems well worth it.
Having said that, Adams is unlikely to sign with the Cowboys while Cooper is on the roster.
- The Cowboys are unlikely to not have Cooper on the roster unless they have a replacement signed.