The Dallas Cowboys spent huge last offseason on quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, and they are expected to do something similar with edge rusher Micah Parsons when the time comes.
Meanwhile, owner Jerry Jones just denied a request from the Chicago Bears to interview head coach Mike McCarthy, which is a strong indicator he's coming back in 2025 on a new deal as well.
All of this is to say the Cowboys appear ready to run it back, so a reunion with a former member of the group who has been successful elsewhere over the past couple of years doesn't seem like much of a stretch.
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report must have thought the same thing when he put together his list of the top 50 free agents heading into the offseason. Buffalo Bills wideout Amari Cooper -- formerly of the Cowboys -- came in at No. 11 on the list, and Knox named Dallas as one of the top potential suitors for his services.
"A return to Dallas could also make some sense," Knox wrote on Wednesday, January 8 . "The Cowboys don't have a young signal-caller, but they need a legitimate No. 2 receiver opposite CeeDee Lamb."
Dallas signed Cooper to a five-year, $100 million contract in March 2020. He played two seasons after that before Jones shipped him to the Cleveland Browns.
Cooper averaged 1,205 yards and seven touchdowns across two years in Cleveland and earned Pro-Bowl honors in 2023 before the Browns sent him to the Buffalo Bills ahead of the November trade deadline.
His numbers were down in 2024, though he missed three games, switched teams and played with a nightmarish Browns offense for the first half of the year. And on the plus side for potential buyers, Cooper's salary demands are likely to drop in 2025 just like his production did last year.
Spotrac projects Cooper's market value at $14.2 million annually over a new two-year contract. The Cowboys have several needs, including on the offensive line and at running back, and only have around $15 million of projected salary cap space as of Thursday.
That said, Jones is in his 80s and the team is spending big on the key pieces of the non-contending roster it already has. This group needs to win, and the only way that's going to happen is if Dallas spends even more to get the right talent around its corps group of stars.
Cooper knows the score with the Cowboys and has familiarity with Prescott, which makes him a reasonable fit at the right price entering his age-31 season.
