No questions exist about Amari Cooper’s talent.
He can be one of the NFL’s best receivers. We’ve all seen it.
Actually, the four-year veteran has already been named to a pair of Pro Bowls.
So the Oakland Raiders didn’t trade the 24-year-old on Monday because he wasn’t good enough to play at a high level in the NFL.
Oakland traded Cooper because the Raiders had questions about his focus - he drops way too many passes - and questions about how much he loves the game. They also traded Cooper because he never connected with new coach Jon Gruden for whatever reason. [[498260231,C]]
At times, Cooper has been described as mercurial. And enigmatic. And moody.
Perhaps, he’s just a loner. Or an introvert. None of that matters anymore.
Blue Star
The center of the Dallas Cowboys universe.
Now, he gets to create a new narrative. It’s entirely up to him.
“It feels like a fresh start, just like a freshman year in college or something like that,” he told reporters Wednesday.
“I mean the first thing you think about when you hear the Cowboys is that star, America’s Team, and all of that. It’s a great franchise.”
The Cowboys, desperate for a No.1 receiver, will give him every opportunity to succeed because he is their passing game messiah. [[498260211,C]]
Acquiring Cooper for a 2019 first-round draft choice is a public admittance that the front office’s off-season approach to its passing game was an abject failure.
Why they ever thought Cole Beasley, Allen Hurns, Terrance Williams, Tavon Austin and Deonte Thompson combined with a group of tight ends who entered the season with a combined total of nine catches would thrive is beyond belief.
Beasley has the group’s only 100-yard game this season. Only Hurns, earning $6 million this season, had ever had a 1,000-yard season. Austin, who will miss the next several weeks with a groin injury, has essentially been a first-round bust and Thompson is the epitome of a journeyman.
Williams is serving a three-game suspension while he recovers from a foot injury, and will probably be cut the next time the team needs a roster spot.
Gallup is getting better each week. Instead of using a first-round pick on a receiver in next year’s draft, the Cowboys did it now.
“We feel like he’s the kind of guy that we’ve drafted in the first round over the last few years - these building block players - who are going to be here for a long time,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We feel like he fits into that mode and is less risky because he has had production at the NFL level.”
Cooper’s presence will help the entire offense.
He’ll make Prescott better because he’s a good route-runner and he makes plays. He can turn short pass into a long gain, and he has a penchant for making big plays.
Of the 19 touchdowns he’s scored, 13 have come on plays of 26 yards or more. Eleven have been more than 30 yards and five have been more than 50 yards.
Prescott has passed for more than 200 yards just three times in seven games, and the Cowboys have had one of the NFL’s worst passing offenses.
The question will be how fast Cooper adjusts to a new offense and finds a rhythm with Prescott.
“I bring a lot of playmaking ability. I can stretch the defense. All those things,” Cooper said. “I’ve been playing football all my life,” Cooper said. “You just have to be a good learner, and I think I’m that. I’m already adjusting and picking up the system pretty well.”
He’ll also help Ezekiel Elliott because teams will be more reluctant to stack the box.
During the season, teams have crept closer to the line of scrimmage with each possession because they don’t fear the Cowboys’ passing game. That notion was reinforced against Washington, when Elliott had 33 yards on 15 carries.
It was the second-worst rushing total of his career.
It’s not that Washington stacked eight or nine defenders close to the line of scrimmage every snap, but when teams don’t fear getting beat deep, they‘re more aggressive against the run.
The Cowboys hope that will change soon.
