Cowboys gambled big with Amari Cooper and the deadline cemented their loss

[Stash]

The fact we're 6-2 without him (and Dak for half the games), kind of argues against your point....unless you prefer other Offensive Stats over team results. Also if we'd of kept Coop how would we have kept within the CAP restraints...please show your workings out.

Please see the exact restructure that Cleveland DID. Cooper’s 2022 cost there is less than $5 million.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/amari-cooper-16728/

 

[Stash]

Not really. Fan's can compare the trades for Adams and Hill, but Coop isnt the same class and teams are fully aware of the intentions of their rivals. EVERY NFL team, fan and even my 87 year old mother who's never seen a game of football in her life could see that we were going to HAVE TO cut Coop. Why trade away picks when he'll become a FA within the week?

Because the Joneses TOLD EVERYONE. Nobody knew Hill or Adams were available until AFTER they were traded. Like REAL GM’s do business.

The only reason the Browns gave away SOMETHING is to get in there first and stop him hitting the market.

If you want to crucify Jones it's that the whole Death Star plan was to sign Gregory. What's happened, more luck than judgement, (when Randy chose the Smoking State) is that we had available CAP, strengthened the roster and at last have become a team rather than overpaying too many individuals that dont play up to their contracts.

Thanks for bringing up what would have been yet another terrible decision.

 

[CowboyoWales]

...and are currently looking for a WR to replace Cooper.
He only "disappeared" because he wasn't getting many targets.
7 games with 5 or less targets. You'd think your $40M QB would
look more often for your $20M WR.

The anti-Cooper crowd repeatedly makes claims suggesting he
"stopped caring, disappeared, fell off", etc. It's simply not true.
I watched him from the 50 yd line in Washington last year.
He could not be covered. They could've thrown every pass to him.

Say's who?? For once the Jones' (more luck than judgement), find themselves in a 6-2 record, with a play-off team and with a bit of flexabity in the CAP. There's a possible upgrade and we're interested, that's not going out and replacing Coop.

 

[Flamma]

Claypool isn’t a bad player, by any means. However, he certainly isn’t as good as Cooper is right now.

Now, who is to say that the Cowboys even look to trade Cooper if they hold on to him long enough to see that Claypool-type value on him; but again, they never even gave themselves that chance.

Bears get a 2nd round 2023 pick.

The Browns not only got 28 year old vet Amari Cooper, but he came with a big fat contract. Claypool is 24 years old making 600k on a rookie contract.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Sorry. But there’s also much film showing Cooper open and Dak ‘missing him’. That road goes both ways.

Dak "missing" as in "not seeing Cooper open"? If so, where are the tapes?

 

[doomsday9084]

Personally I'm surprised how good Dallas is. I think the team is a legit contender. The Jones boys deserve credit for assembling that roster. Either McClay is a savant at drafting or someone else is and the Jones' set that up. Beyond that, Quinn was purely a Jerry get and Jerry was right. Also, for the bad contracts Dallas has currently, at least they haven't gone out on the FA market and paid bums causing Dallas to be in no position to keep the team together. I have no issue giving them credit where its due.

Now that I got that qualifier out of the way, the Amare trade was asinine. Watch the dam tape. Sure, Amare wasn't perfect but under the criteria that is being applied to him to justify his release, no receiver is. He was traded for vindictive and emotional reasons, not football or financial ones. That's a pretty big sin when it comes to management in any organization. We knew it at the time (or a lot of us did).

At this point I wish everyone would just concede "yup, that was a mistake" and move on to watching this really good team Dallas has. Arguing this point is like arguing if the sky is blue at this point. Its just silly.

 

[America's Cowboy]

And YOU don’t “understand “ that the Joneses running their mouths and letting the league know that Cooper was going one way of another TANKED the trade value.

More like don’t WANT to know.

More like YOUR feelings can't handle the decision to trade Cooper no matter what because the front office and coaches had seen enough.

 

[CowboyoWales]

Because the Joneses TOLD EVERYONE. Nobody knew Hill or Adams were available until AFTER they were traded. Like REAL GM’s do business.



Thanks for bringing up what would have been yet another terrible decision.

The BIG difference is that GB and Kansas didnt have to trade, they traded from a position of strength. In our case every team could see that with a week to go before the CAP had to be settled we couldnt afford his $22m and that he was being cut.

The Gregory decision was the main reason (that and the Franchise Tag on Schultz....whom I presume Dak preferred to keep) why we couldnt go down the structure route.

Your last comment indicates a polarized view which is easy to apportion blame, not at all SOME decisions are right, some wrong and some are lucky.

The bottom line is we are 6-2 with a team that's the deepest we've had for years....not something alot of Cowboys fans appreciate (even Jerry methinks)....we like our Stars.

 

[tyke1doe]

Are we STILL talking about Cleveland Amari Brown(s) Cooper?

 

[USArmyVet]

The Browns not only got 28 year old vet Amari Cooper, but he came with a big fat contract. Claypool is 24 years old making 600k on a rookie contract.

Cooper's contract is such that Cleveland, if they choose, can get out of it after this season with an $8.6M cap savings ($15.1M dead money) OR they can get out of it after the 2023 season ($23.7M cap hit in 2023) with a $12.4M cap savings ($11.3M dead money).

While his contract cap hit in 2023 is pricey, they only gave up a 5th round pick to acquire him.

As for Claypool, his rookie deal ends after the 2023 season as his 2023 cap hit is only $1.5M BUT given that the Bears gave up a 2nd round draft pick to acquire him, that adds to the pressure of re-signing him to what will more than likely be a contract in the $17-$20M/year average.

 

[Jipper]

Are we STILL talking about Cleveland Amari Brown(s) Cooper?

Not talking, whining...

 

[Flamma]

We were 6-2 with Cooper, and we're 6-2 without him. The offense is a little worse without Cooper, to be expected, but the defense has made up for that, and some. No way does Dallas go 4-1 with Rush last year. We got lucky to beat the crap Vikings.

So I'd say the Cowboys as a whole are better than they were last year, mainly due to the defense. I don't understand how a team can be improved from one year to the next, and yet some still say the Cowboys screwed up.

 

[tyke1doe]

Not talking, whining...

Oh, my bad.

 

[Stash]

More like YOUR feelings can't handle the decision to trade Cooper no matter what because the front office and coaches had seen enough.

More like YOUR FEELINGS and being incapable of admitting the Cowboys screwed up.

THEY DID, by pursuing Cooks in a trade and now Beckham as a free agent.

It’s YOU that can deal with it.

 

[Stash]

Are we STILL talking about Cleveland Amari Brown(s) Cooper?

Those of us that can handle it, yes.

 

[Stash]

We were 6-2 with Cooper, and we're 6-2 without him. The offense is a little worse without Cooper, to be expected, but the defense has made up for that, and some. No way does Dallas go 4-1 with Rush last year. We got lucky to beat the crap Vikings.

So I'd say the Cowboys as a whole are better than they were last year, mainly due to the defense. I don't understand how a team can be improved from one year to the next, and yet some still say the Cowboys screwed up.

You answered your own question. The offense got worse without Cooper and the defense improved.

Now picture what the record might be if Cooper was still here and the defense had improved and you’ll understand the angst.

 

[Flamma]

Cooper's contract is such that Cleveland, if they choose, can get out of it after this season with an $8.6M cap savings ($15.1M dead money) OR they can get out of it after the 2023 season ($23.7M cap hit in 2023) with a $12.4M cap savings ($11.3M dead money).

While his contract cap hit in 2023 is pricey, they only gave up a 5th round pick to acquire him.

As for Claypool, his rookie deal ends after the 2023 season as his 2023 cap hit is only $1.5M BUT given that the Bears gave up a 2nd round draft pick to acquire him, that adds to the pressure of re-signing him to what will more than likely be a contract in the $17-$20M/year average.

Another think on Claypool. If they decide to extend him, any large cap hit won't happen until probably 2025. You get top value for a good player if you trade them in the 3rd year, or right after their 3rd year. A.J. Brown is the perfect example. His big cap hit starts on the 2nd year of his extension.

 

[Stash]

The BIG difference is that GB and Kansas didnt have to trade, they traded from a position of strength. In our case every team could see that with a week to go before the CAP had to be settled we couldnt afford his $22m and that he was being cut.

As I showed you, the Cowboys could have restructured the contract just like the Browns did.

The Gregory decision was the main reason (that and the Franchise Tag on Schultz....whom I presume Dak preferred to keep) why we couldnt go down the structure route.

Your last comment indicates a polarized view which is easy to apportion blame, not at all SOME decisions are right, some wrong and some are lucky.

Schultz. Another bad decision. You’re doing my work FOR ME.

The bottom line is we are 6-2 with a team that's the deepest we've had for years....not something alot of Cowboys fans appreciate (even Jerry methinks)....we like our Stars.

I can be happy for that record but still admit they screwed up on Cooper. One doesn’t preclude the other.

 

[CowboyoWales]

Cooper's contract is such that Cleveland, if they choose, can get out of it after this season with an $8.6M cap savings ($15.1M dead money) OR they can get out of it after the 2023 season ($23.7M cap hit in 2023) with a $12.4M cap savings ($11.3M dead money).

While his contract cap hit in 2023 is pricey, they only gave up a 5th round pick to acquire him.

As for Claypool, his rookie deal ends after the 2023 season as his 2023 cap hit is only $1.5M BUT given that the Bears gave up a 2nd round draft pick to acquire him, that adds to the pressure of re-signing him to what will more than likely be a contract in the $17-$20M/year average.

In effect Claypool gives them 2 year deal ($2M) for a 2nd round and Browns gave up a 5th plus $20m for 1 year.

The big difference is that in 2023 (and beyond) the Bears are in a great CAP position and can easily extend Claypool, whereas, the Browns with Watson presumably back next year are going to cut Coop as their financial structure and CAP space in such that they have little breathing space.

This is why certain fans start comparing trades, which in effect arent comparable due to teams preferences and CAP strategy.

 

[Flamma]

You answered your own question. The offense got worse without Cooper and the defense improved.

Now picture what the record might be if Cooper was still here and the defense had improved and you’ll understand the angst.

Well sure. But the end result is still a better team than last year. I think the mindset they had last year was looking torwards Dak's cap hit. They can't keep pushing that money forward, it's piled up too high.

If Jerry is getting antsy about losing Cooper, they had the trade deadline to do something. They chose not to. They still have OBJ. I just don't think they wanted that 22M cap hit, and certainly didn't want to restructure Cooper.