Saints WR Michael Thomas Will Drive Up Price for Cowboys’ Amari Cooper

Since he became part of the Dallas Cowboys, Amari Cooper has proved himself worthy of a long-term contract extension. The offense saw a complete turnaround once the former Oakland Raider arrived, picking up way more first downs and moving the ball down the field. With a solid #1 wide receiver, Dak Prescott’s game improved and with it, the rest of the offensive performance. At this point, most of Cowboys Nation agrees on how important Amari Cooper is for the Cowboys’ future.

At only 25 years old, Cooper has an entire career ahead of him. He’s young, yet experienced. The front office is aiming to make Dak Prescott the team’s quarterback in the long-term and it only makes sense to give him such a strong weapon in the passing game.

However, if the Cowboys are to keep Cooper, they are to pay a price tag. An expensive one. And the more time they take to sign him, the more they’ll have to pay. Of course, this is true in just about every position in the NFL. But when it comes to WR, there’s a bit more urgency.

Both Julio Jones and Michael Thomas, two of the best in the game, are seeking long-term extensions. Now granted, these two players may be in different scenarios given their ages (Julio is 30, Michael is 26) and the fact that Jones still has two remaining years on his current contract. Even still, both are in the discussion for being the top receiver in the NFL. In other words, they could be asking to become the highest paid receivers in the league.

In fact, Michael Thomas is reportedly asking for $22M per year. To put it in perspective, Odell Beckham’s contract with the Browns, which made him the top paid receiver, averages $18M annually. Thomas is absolutely great, but he’s asking for too much money. Whether he’ll get it or not remains to be seen.

As much as we love Amari Cooper, he isn’t in the conversation for being the best wide receiver in the NFL like Thomas is. Despite that, he’ll surely land among the highest-paid. For Cooper, it seems like the floor for his deal is Adam Thielen’s contract with the Minnesota Vikings, which averages $16.2M per year. He isn’t getting paid anything less than that.

The ceiling though, could drastically change. He’s not going to become the top paid in the league, but he could be very close. The thing is, that number could change quickly. At the moment, Odell Beckham sits atop the NFL pass-catchers averaging 18 million. We can only guess, but that could lead to Cooper getting paid around $17M per year.

But if Michael Thomas or Julio Jones get their deals done before, that price could drastically go up. If Thomas gets what he wants (and it’s a big if), the ceiling for Cooper’s annual salary would have become $4M more expensive.

Hopefully, the Dallas Cowboys get a deal done quickly. Amari Cooper is a great player, and in less than a season he clicked with Dak Prescott, who’s also waiting for payday. Right now, we can only be glad neither is threatening to hold out and both are excited for training camp.