In the wake of the Dallas Cowboys 17-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Wide Receiver Amari Cooper’s caught a lot of heat. There have been growing questions about whether he’s been healthy or not and it seems some are beginning to question whether or not Amari Cooper is happy with the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Cooper put all of that to rest.
One reason Amari Cooper’s happy with Cowboys: Dak Prescott.
“That is part of me liking it,” Amari said. “My situation on the team, him being the quarterback, the teammates, where I live. Everything.”
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) December 27, 2019
There’s been debate about just how healthy Amari Cooper has been this season. For a player that doesn’t show a whole lot of emotion during or after games, it’s easy to look at Amari Cooper and think that he’s not into it or that he’s checked out. Caught up in the failures of the team and his inconsistency this season is the reality that Cooper’s been dealing with injuries since training camp.
John Owning from the Dallas Morning News recalled each of the instances in which Cooper’s dealt with an injury this season.
Injuries Amari Cooper has dealt with this year:
– Heel strain/plantar fasciitis in left foot (camp)
– right ankle (Week 4)
– quad (Week 6)
– bruised knee (Week 10)
– another knee (Week 13)But yeah, he magically recovered from all that without missing any game time.
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) December 23, 2019
A lot of the injuries that Cooper’s been dealing with, in particular, the plantar fasciitis that’s ailed him since camp, require rest. Amari Cooper’s played in every game this season. As opposed to being critical of his play, like some in the Cowboys organization have been, he should be getting credit for playing through a lot of injuries that would slow down any wide receiver.
Wide receivers, as much as any position in the NFL, require their legs to be functional in order to be at their best. Once injuries started catching up to Dez Bryant, he wasn’t a consistent wide receiver either.
Amari Cooper is one of the more valuable players on the Cowboys roster. Once he joined the Cowboys roster in 2018, he absolutely revitalized the offense and was one of the biggest reasons Dallas was able to make a run and make the playoffs.
Despite dealing with injuries throughout the 2019 campaign, Amari Cooper’s 11th in the NFL in receiving yards and tied for eighth in receiving touchdowns (a career-high) while sitting only 22nd in targets with 114. With 57 receiving yards on Sunday, Cooper could set a career-high in yardage.
Cooper’s had four 1,000 yard seasons in five NFL seasons and is a big reason for the growth and development of the Dallas Cowboys passing offense over the last year and a half. He and Quarterback Dak Prescott had instant chemistry after he came over from the Oakland Raiders in the middle of 2018. As Cooper mentioned, Prescott is a big reason why he is enjoying his time in Dallas so much.
With both Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper set to be free agents this offseason, there’s been a lot of talk about whether or not the Dallas Cowboys should bring back Cooper. They absolutely should. Cooper’s route-running prowess combined with his speed makes him one of the more difficult players in the league to cover. As the team gets ready to make Dak Prescott one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL, getting his number one wide receiver locked up is equally important.
Despite what you may hear Jerry or Stephen Jones say about Cooper in the media, they want him back with the Cowboys in 2020. For more than a year, they’ve talked publicly about their desire to get Cooper’s long-term deal done and injuries won’t derail that. They’ve seen how valuable he’s been to the offense.
Amari Cooper wants to be with the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Cowboys want Amari Cooper to be with him. When it comes time to get a deal done, a deal will get done.
