Cowgirls getting rid of Cooper? 🧐

Trying to trade or release Amati Cooper and not Zeke Elliot? Hmmm , how are you feeling Cowboy fans ?

Our front office and Steven Jones are complete idiots but fact is, Coop has value. Nobody will touch Zeke. We have WRs. I love Coop but we drafted Ceedee and Jerry asked him to wear #88. He didn't request it. Jerry asked him to wear it. Says how he feels about Ceedee, a WR we drafted. With that said, Coop has been a security blanket. I can't count how many times he has bailed Dak out on 3rd down with that sideline toe tap play, which takes a skilled WR to execute. So who knows. I know the line needs upgrade. The secondary needs upgrade. We need a big free agent signing in one of these spots plus I wouldn't be surprised if Jerry world wants to get early extensions done for Ceedee and Micah so we will see what happens.

Micah just finished up Year 1 of rookie deal so one would think those other concerns you listed would be addressed before him.  Zeke should be a 50/50 split with Pollard moving forward and it looks like Dallas is fine with saving the $16 million in cap space rather than re-do Amari's deal (no one will trade for that cap number).  

True that there isnt much trade value with Zeke that there is with Amari... but I wonder who the Cowboys have in mind to replace Coop? Lamb and Gallup are good but I think Dallas is more explosive with Coop in there.. just opens things up for Lamb and vice versa. Cedrick Wilson stepped it up with Gallup injured so depth isn't really an issue at WR but they will certainly miss Coop's playmaking unless they can get someone else of his calibur. If they can't get a trade deal done with Amari and decide to release him then why not keep Amari and dump Zeke instead. Good luck in free agency  

As a Philly fan I hope they do. I watched their offense when he was hurt (or had covid maybe) they were useless

@Digitalkarma

 He brings something to the table that those other guys can't replace. As far as cutting Zeke and keeping Coop,the Cowboys drafted Zeke. As crazy as it sounds, that's how Jerry thinks. Coop will never be a Cowboy like Zeke, Dak, CeeDee, Micah, etc based on that alone. When CeeDee was drafted and Jerry asked him to wear #88, I almost took it as a message to Cooper that he's a redheaded step-child. It doesn't matter if that kid is on the honor roll, plays the violin, starting PG on varsity, and does ROTC, he's still a step child.

i get it , that draft players have more value to the front office cuz that was the player they dedicated many hours scouting and taking under their wing therefore more prized than an expensive free agent from another team. the same goes for most teams anyway although sometimes they have to admit that sometimes they made a mistake. i dont think Jerry is the kind that likes to admit failure and probably would be best for him to hand over GM duties to someone with an eye for talent while Jerry sit back and provide the team with the rah rah support. its long overdue

Genius Cooper didn't take the jab, so, like an idiot, he got COVID. Out for 10 days, he missed two games. Cowboys lost both games. 

Brilliant!

@The Hawk

 Your life must suck. Please get out of this thread 

Can't believe they gave Cooper all that money..

Agree with Stu , Jerry usually plays favorites with their draft picks over fa additions...

He's going to need to take a massive payout somewhere imo 

@DoubleUp4Life

 We were desperate when Cooper was brought in. It was the right move at the time.

@StumpTownStu

Oh, geez, Stump, I'm sorry. I thought I was in America....

You're forgiven.

Cowboys only got a 5th and 6th rounder out of that? Would think maybe at least a 2nd round pick with it 

Cooper should be an improvement over Landry.  I think Cooper is worth a fifth-round draft pick;  DAL and CLV also swapped sixth-round picks.

As of now I view this as a plus for CLV.

They didn't get a 6th. They swapped 6ths. So essentially they got a 5th. Fact is, deals like this where a team needs to cut a guy anyway never net much. I would prefer a 3rd or 4th but it is what it is. The main thing was clearing cap space. As we talked about, Cooper brings something to the table others don't but this team is in desperate need of secondary help and O-line help.

I've been a fan of this team since I was 4 or 5. Seems like every season for like 20+ years I'm saying we need secondary and line help. Then we finally put together a good line. The secondary still sucked but we had a line but now that line has aged out and we're back to square one. If you look at what has hampered these recent mediocre Dallas teams that have sometimes made the playoffs, sometimes been right outside, it hasn't been scoring. It's that we can't stop anyone through the air. That issue is still not solved. I love Diggs but for all of his picks, he gets toasted constantly. I like our depth in the secondary but we need another legit corner. Not a draft pick. A proven vet.Then we maybe convert Joseph to free safety.

@StumpTownStu

 True dat they weren't in a good position to ask for more at least they got something out of it. Now that Coop is out let's see if they can put some of that freed up money to good use and invest in the secondary. Cowboys defense showed some promise last season. 

@DogbiteWilliams

 You guys got a good deal 

I know I’m late to the party but Zeke isn’t going anywhere. Thanks to the rolling guarantees in his contract, his salary (something like $17-18m), is already guaranteed for the 2022 season. They are stuck with him. This is likely part of the reason they are moving in from Amari too.

Giving a running back that kind of money these days is insane and the Cowboys have to pay the figurative price for their foolish spending on Zeke. RBs are a dime a dozen and have been for the last 10-12 years already. If you look at the list of recent Super Bowl winners nobody has the highest paid running back. It’s just an egregious waste of cap dollars. The only guy I can think of from the last while whose team won is Marshawn Lynch. He was well paid but only had about 60% of the salary that Adrian Peterson had. The game had moved to passing more and more each year since then too. Paying RBs huge money is silly.

Anyways after this upcoming season is over, the Cowboys can cut Elliott much more easily. No more rolling guaranteed salaries, and the dead money on the cap from his signing bonus will be less too. 

Dallas fan here and we have a lot of issues. Our O-line looks completely different than in the previous years and frankly when Travis Frederick retired, everything change. Tyrone Smith is injury prone. Zach Martin is the only reliable, stable piece left on the line. I am not impressed at all with Connor Williams and it looks like we are going to shop La'el Collins. 

To make matters worse, the Cowboys have a major issue with their cap. Luckily, Zach Martin and Dak restructured their contracts but we are stuck with Zeke. He is underperforming and cutting him would be something like 16+ million hit to the cap. We lost Cooper. On defense, we will likely lose Randy Gregory and Demarcus Lawrence as Lawrence, despite playing average, is refusing to take a pay-cut. LVE is a free agent and why resign him? All of our safeties are free agents as well. 

What we need to do is part ways with Randy Gregory and Demarcus Lawrence if they aren't willing to be reasonable. Let me remind you that Randy Gregory is the idiot who is constantly getting into trouble and he is also the one who had multiple false start penalties in the playoff game against SF. It looks like the Cowboys are seriously considering adding Bobby Wagner who wants to be reunited with Dan Smith who coached him in Seattle. Von Miller is a serious consideration as an edge rusher since he has Texas roots. Losing Gregory and D-law would suck, but potentially gaining experience at MLB and OLB/DE with Wagner and Miller would be great. We will see what happens in the off-season and if Jerry and his kids manage to screw things up even worse

@Ih8coldweather

 You mean Collins is who had multiple false starts, and I am fine moving on from that experiment. I have heard we are shopping him as well. I think there will be interest. He still has potential but the false starts, which I believe he led the league in, were adsolute drive killers and played a key role in the playoff loss to... to... You know who they lost to.

Listening to Stu and ColdWeather...you guys have to be grinding your molars...so I can only imagine how Jerry is handling this.  Lifelong BigBlue here/haven't rooted for the Cowboys since they were trying to beat the Pack on the frozen tundra of Lambeau.  Killed me they couldn't beat 'em with the doomsday defense and plenty of offense.  Grrrrrrrrrr...

Jerry/Stephen really shit the bed when they hired Mike McCarthy.  They envisioned Zeke and Dak getting them back to the promised land with new triplets, including CeCe (who will be great imo).  Nobody has to agree with me, but looking at Jerry at the presser when they introduced McCarthy...the look on Jerry's face...I swear he KNEW at that moment he made a BAD choice.  Just what I believe I saw that day lol. 

And I could never feel bad for an oil man who could bathe in the black gold if he wanted to waste good bath towels, but I do feel bad for him as an older gent who has to know his time is short to get back to sniffing at the Lombardi.  Not short in his life, just short as far as running the day-to-day.  No way he want's his sons to make him "emeritus" lmao.  Sorry, Jurr...honestly.

No gloating here...no way...seriously feel bad for you guys.  I can't see my Giants getting into the playoffs for at least 5 years, and I ain't no spring chicken...but I do have all the GREAT memories (as does Jurr, but he wants more right now).

Cheers, guys...all the best

@DB51daBEARS

Im from Dallas but I, in no way, have any expectations every single year. The Cowboys chronically underperform and are a textbook example of how to not run an organization (spotlight, owner as GM, coach carousel, etc.). My betting is emotionless. As a matter of fact, I often bet against the Cowboys because they are such a heavily favorite public team with massively inflated lines that make for great value. 

@StumpTownStu

 Nah, man.  Collins didn't even lead the Cowboys in FS, he only had 3.  Biadasz did with 6.

 Leatherwood for the Raiders made sure he lead the league in FS, he had 7!!.

Collins did make sure he got a 4th one in the playoffs though. 

One thing Cowboys do need to figure out is why Connor Williams is grabbing everyone that goes by him; lead the league in holding calls with 10. 

I just looked it up  -- because I was pretty sure about Leatherwood.  But, I understand if you wanna move on from Collins.  Maybe the whole O-Line needs to be looked at with Cowboys.

Hey ColdWeather  

You're right...every pre-season we see the hype from the Big D writers, and the national sports press.  Almost like when it's time for March Madness, or "pitchers and catchers".  I'm thinking it's the only way to be with most pro teams - emotionless when it comes to betting.  Amazes me still that a guy who was so good at setting up his oil business (even with the hard times early on) would flounder around with half-baked visions of who the Cowboys are and a revolving door of coaches and assistants.  The look on his face at the presser when he hired McCarthy was probably the same look he had when Jimmy Johnson walked out the door.  Johnson was only 50-51 when he left the Cowboys.  Anybody think he wouldn't have won a few more Supes if he stayed?

Cheers  

Huge cap hit in releasing Zeke.

Not much trade value due to salary and his declining production.

His run blocking is still above average.

He apparently had some knee issues last year. Not sure if that was just an excuse to hide the fact that he lost burst, but that was the narrative.