I've had this thought tumbling around in my head for a few months now and decide to finally share it with you. After landing former Oklahoma Wide Receiver CeeDee Lamb in the first-round of the 2020 NFL Draft, I've been wondering if the Dallas Cowboys have had a little buyers remorse extending Amari Cooper's contract about a month prior to the big event?
That's a lot of equity and money to invest in one position. If they knew then what they know now, would they have even bothered locking up Amari Cooper long-term? Would they have been just as happy pairing CeeDee Lamb with Michael Gallup? It's interesting to think about, however, there's really no way of knowing one way or the other.
For the fun of it let's pretend the Dallas Cowboys weren't able to lock up Amari Cooper prior to the 2020 NFL Draft and things still turned out the same. CDee Lamb is still the Cowboys 17th overall pick, leaving them in a lot better shape salary-cap wise without Cooper's hefty price tag on the books. Think about the possibilities…
Odds are without an Amari Cooper extension, Dak Prescott is the one locked up on a multi-year deal or is in same boat he is now under the franchise tag. Either way, the Cowboys would have quite a bit of salary-cap space at their disposal to sign any free agent they choose.
Everson Griffen or Jadevon Clowney anyone? Maybe CB Logan Ryan? All three would arguably be upgrades over what Dallas currently has on the roster. Without Cooper's hefty contract on the books, anyone of these players could've been more plausible.
Trading for a certain safety from New York would be a lot more realistic as well. That money they could've possibly saved from not extending Amari Cooper could've been used to trade and sign Jamal Adams long-term. But with Cooper already locked up and the unknown of the 2021 salary-cap, it's going to be a difficult trade to complete now.
All of this is just talk of course. Amari Cooper isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so whether or not the Dallas Cowboys have any buyers remorse doesn't really matter. But with little else to talk about or discuss I thought it would be fun to share with all of you something that's been tumbling around my head for a while.
