Trade ideas are often pure fan fiction that one or both teams wouldn’t take a second to consider. However, a suggested deal involving Amari Cooper might make sense for each side.
Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus proposed a hypothetical trade that’d send the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver to the Jacksonville Jaguars for picks No. 33 and 155 in this year’s NFL Draft.
🚨 Hypothetical Trade 🚨
Amari Cooper ➡️ Jacksonville? 👀 pic.twitter.com/o7sPyK0zg0
— PFF (@PFF) February 23, 2022
According to Spotrac, Cooper carries a $22 million cap hit for each of the next three seasons. His salary becomes fully guaranteed on March 20, so Dallas may be ready to move on behind CeeDee Lamb as the new pass-catching headliner.
When speaking to reporters earlier this month, via Pro Football Talk’s Curtis Crabtree, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones seemed to suggest some disappointment in Cooper’s performance.
“Well, it’s sometimes not all on the receiver too. It’s scheme. It’s getting the receiver the ball, the touches, the targets that he needs,” Jones said. “But if you’re gonna pay somebody a lot of money, you want them to be the best at what they do.”
Jones also alluded to the organization’s salary-cap juggling act ahead after signing Dak Prescott to a four-year, $160 million extension.
“That’s the tough part of our business,” Jones said. “As much as we respect these men, they also know that we’ve got to run a business. There’s only so much to go around. And we’ve been saying that since day one. But the right guy has the money right now and that’s No. 4, and from there we’ve got to put the right pieces around him.”
The Jaguars, meanwhile, brandish a dozen picks — including the first overall selection — in this year’s draft. While they have pass-catching talent in Marvin Jones, D.J. Chark, and Laviska Shenault Jr., they’re lacking a bonafide top target for Trevor Lawrence.
Cooper would fit the bill.
He failed to secure his sixth 1,000-yard campaign last season, but Cooper’s 865 receiving yards and eight touchdowns would have each led the Jaguars. In fact, Jacksonville’s wide receivers combined to catch nine of Lawrence’s 12 passing touchdowns.
The 27-year-old would give the Jaguars their best wide receiver since Allen Robinson, and they have years to build a contender around Lawrence before he garners a mega payday like Prescott.
As for the Cowboys, they’d have plenty of remaining playmakers in Lamb, Michael Gallup, Cedrick Wilson Jr., Dalton Schultz, Ezekiel Elliott, and Tony Pollard.
Does this trade proposal have legs?
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