Anyone know what's going on with Amari Cooper? He's just five games into his five-year, $100 million contract extension he earned from the Dallas Cowboys this offseason, but already he's seeing less and less playing time from week to week. In fact, his offensive snaps have continually decreased since the season opener.
Whether by design or mistake, the Dallas Cowboys aren't using Amari Cooper like the No. 1 wide receiver he's getting paid as. Instead it looks as if he slowly seeing his role decreased and with the way CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup have been playing it's not all that surprising. But, the question I have is whether it's intentional or not.
Amari Cooper's snap counts through Week 5
Week 1 – 94.4%
Week 2 – 91.5%
Week 3 – 79.3%
Week 4 – 76.8%
Week 5 – 63.6%
As you can see, No. 19 has seen a dramatic dip in his playing time since the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams. His offensive snaps have dropped by nearly 31% and for someone who's who's being paid like he is that's completely unacceptable. There's been no announcement made as to why Cooper's role is being slowly diminished, but there has to be some underlying cause.
The most logical answer to this conundrum could be the fact Amari Cooper has once again been dealing with nagging injuries throughout the early portion of the 2020 season. That would mean the Dallas Cowboys are playing it safe with him and limiting his playing time, quite possibly putting him on a pitch count.
If that's true, the Dallas Cowboys are just playing it safe with Amari Cooper to keep him from further injuring himself. It's definitely plausible, but what if they are purposely decreasing his offensive role? What if it has nothing to do with him being banged up at all?
The emergence of both Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb no doubt could be the reason why Amari Cooper's offensive snap counts continue to nosedive. Both these youngsters have been highly consistent through the first five weeks of the season, which could explain Cooper's decreased playing time.
Whether it's nagging injuries or the emergence of Gallup or Lamb though, the Dallas Cowboys continually to diminish Amari Cooper's offensive role is without a doubt concerning. You don't pay someone the kind of money he's making only to start phasing them out of the game plan. I don't know about you, definitely something I'm going to be keeping an eye on moving forward.
