When it comes to big contracts, nobody procrastinates like the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys signed Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb to top-of-the-market deals last season, but it took them until the final weeks of training camp before a deal was reached. Even with Micah Parsons, the Cowboys have taken their time, costing themselves millions of dollars as the market rate goes through the roof.
Urgency isn’t a strong suit for Jerry Jones and it carries over to the free agent market. The Cowboys haven’t signed a free agent over $6 million since giving Greg Hardy a one-year, $11 million contract in 2015 and it seems that streak will continue heading into next season.
But while the Cowboys continue to drag their feet on signing free agents, there’s one that fans know is coming and it could take place to fill a specific need heading into the 2025 season.
Cowboys Have “Mutual Interest” in Reunion With Amari Cooper
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler revealed during a Sunday appearance on SportsCenter that the Cowboys have “some mutual interest” in reuniting with former wide receiver Amari Cooper. Cooper had a disappointing year with the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills last season with career lows in catches (44), yards (547) and touchdowns (4), but his Pro Bowl track record would be too good to pass up.
The Cowboys top receiver spot is occupied by Lamb but they could desperately use an upgrade behind him. The No. 2 job is occupied by mid-season trade acquisition Jonathan Mingo. But despite Jerry Jones’s confidence, he hasn’t done much to earn it, catching five passes for 46 scoreless yards in eight games after arriving from Carolina.
The situation gets bleaker the further down the depth chart. Jalen Tolbert is a former third-round pick but his breakout was a modest one with 49 catches for 610 yards and seven touchdowns last season. KaVontae Turpin is explosive but best used as a gadget player and Jalen Brooks and Ryan Flournoy appear to be fillers on the back end.
Everybody knows the Cowboys need a receiver. Even Jones admitted it when he revealed that he would have taken top receiver prospect Tetairoa McMillan with the 12th overall pick in the draft if the Carolina Panthers didn’t select him four spots earlier. Dallas is also a convenient fit for Cooper, who posted 1,000 yards in four of five seasons before last year’s meltdown.
So why hasn’t a deal happened yet? The biggest hurdle is money. Spotrac estimates Cooper’s market value at $18.9 million, but no team has been willing to give him that coming off a down year. Dallas may also be buying time until they know how much Parsons’s contract is going to cost them, although they have full control to end that situation by making it a priority.
If Dallas is waiting for Cooper to lower its price, it would be hard to blame them. But this is a signing that is too obvious for both sides for it not to happen. It makes the Cowboys look like fools for dragging their feet and potentially letting another upgrade go somewhere else.