Slighted Ex-Cowboys Star Addresses Potential Week 1 Vengeance Game

Getty Cowboys former star WR Amari Cooper

Former Cowboys star receiver Amari Cooper, now a member of the Cleveland Browns, has plenty of reasons to seek a bit of vengeance in Sunday’s game against his old team.

First, the fact that the Cowboys traded him for peanuts (a fifth-round pick, and a sixth-round swap) back in 2022 could be taken as a bit of a slap in the face. Cooper went to two Pro Bowls (he’s been to four in his career) for the Cowboys and amassed 3,893 yards and 27 touchdowns in three-and-a-half seasons in Dallas.

Second, the Cowboys cited his expensive salary (he signed a five-year, $100 million contract in 2021) as one reason for the trade, but turned around and paid Michael Gallup five years and $57 million for far, far worse production.

Third, on his way out the door, the Cowboys leaked a story to the media suggesting Cooper was traded because, as SI.com put it, a “lack of effort on the Dallas Cowboys’ final, futile drive of the season,” in the wildcard loss to the 49ers to end the 2021 season. That sort of thing is a dirty trick teams pull to win PR battles justifying bad trades, and Cooper deserved better from the Cowboys.

So, he must be ticked off heading into Sunday. Right?

“Not necessarily,” Cooper said, via the Akron Beacon-Journal. “It’s been a couple years now. I think it probably would’ve been more emotional had it been sooner.”

Cowboys Could Have Had Another Star WR With CeeDee Lamb

That’s a decidedly level-headed approach for a receiver whom the Cowboys clearly wronged, and who was the subject of a trade that never should have happened. Since arriving in Cleveland, Cooper has had seasons of 78 catches and 1,160 yards, followed by 72 catches and 1,250 yards.

Those are good numbers, but consider the starting quarterbacks he’s dealt with in that time outside of just 12 games from injury-riddled DeShaun Watson: Jacoby Brissett, Joe Flacco, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, PJ Walker and Jeff Driskel.

Imagine Cooper’s stats if he had been catching passes from Dak Prescott.

Granted, the Cowboys would have, eventually, had to trade Cooper to make room for CeeDee Lamb. But they could have used the pairing as a tandem for another year or two before needing to pay Lamb, then been in a much stronger position to get a better return package for Cooper.

Of the two players the Cowboys picked in return for Cooper, only Matt Waletzko remains in the roster, having played just four games in two years. Devin Harper was released after playing three games. Gallup, who was one reason the Cowboys made the trade, has retired.

Amari Cooper Downplays Impact of Trade Rumors

Cooper was, briefly this offseason, the subject of more trade rumors, when the Browns inquired about trading for 49ers star Brandon Aiyuk. No trade materialized, and the 49ers eventually signed Aiyuk, removing him from the trade market.

But Cooper was not fazed by any of it, just as he wasn’t fazed by the Cowboys trade. If he’d gone to the 49ers, he’d have seen it more as an opportunity to win in San Francisco than as a slight from Cleveland. He’s not had to “learn” to deal with trade talk, he said. He just does not see it as something that needs dealing with.

“I don’t think I ever really had to learn because I don’t think it’s something to be taken personal,” Cooper said. “At the end of the day, you might be traded away from one team. It’s all about how you perceive things. Life is about perception, because in regards to trades, yeah, you’re trading away from one team, but you’re being accepted into another team. So I just kind of look at it as that’s how the business was arranged.”