Straight up: Jerry Jones dumped Amari Cooper’s contract last year for all the right reasons, and it might have worked out just fine, too, if only Michael Gallup hadn’t disappointed and the most memorable moment of Jalen Tolbert’s rookie season hadn’t been the time he lined up on defense.
Anyway, just because Jerry’s decision on Cooper bit him back doesn’t mean he shouldn’t make the same call on Zeke Elliott. This time it won’t hurt as much.
Promise.
Jerry needs to take the same business-first approach he displayed this week at the Senior Bowl, where he said he had no regrets about trading Cooper to Cleveland. The Browns certainly have none. For the cost of picking up Cooper’s contract and a fifth-round pick, they got 1,160 yards and nine touchdowns.
Cooper did for the Browns pretty much what he did for the Cowboys when they acquired him from the Raiders, and it didn’t cost Cleveland a first-rounder. Of course, the circumstances are different. For one thing, he’s four years older.
And, most important, at $20 million per annum, he’s making twice what he did when he immediately upgraded Dak Prescott’s collection of targets.
Cooper’s days in Dallas were numbered the moment CeeDee Lamb slid to the 17th pick of the 2020 draft. You don’t draft a receiver that high without believing he’ll soon be No. 1.
Sure enough, in only his second season, Lamb’s numbers exceeded Cooper’s, who complained publicly about being forgotten. Nothing unusual about that. Cooper’s ego isn’t as pronounced as the typical No. 1, but he’s got one.
He also has a contract to match, and you don’t pay $20 million for 865 yards and 68 catches, which was Cooper’s output his last season in Dallas.
Now, you can blame Kellen Moore if you want to, and that’s certainly the fad. But accommodating two No. 1 receivers simultaneously is like housing two teenagers at once. If they’re not always fighting, one suffers in the shadow of the other. Nothing against either Lamb or Cooper, but it’s no coincidence that Lamb didn’t fully grasp what goes into being a true No. 1 until he was thrust into the role this season.
As previously noted, if Gallup, in particular, or Tolbert or even James Washington had stepped up, the loss of Cooper wouldn’t have been as bad. At the very least the Cowboys wouldn’t have had to spend so much time flirting with Odell Beckham Jr., an ongoing infatuation.
On the other hand, as Jerry argues, if they hadn’t freed up the money saved on Cooper this season, they wouldn’t have been able to sign players to plug holes elsewhere.
Think Anthony Barr, Jason Peters, Johnathan Hankins, T.Y. Hilton.
Cooper would have been more valuable than any of the above, but all of them?
You might argue that the Joneses could have made other moves to accommodate those replacements, and you might be right. There are all sorts of ways to cook the books, and we don’t get to see the recipe. But, if nothing else, you have to concede that Lamb assumed his rightful role this season as a result.
Time to do the same for Tony Pollard, meaning it’s time for Zeke to go.
First and foremost, the Cowboys have an out in Elliott’s contract that would save them $10.9 million against the cap this fall with only a $5.82 million dead cap hit if they make him a post-June 1 cut. If it seems a little cold, it’s not like the man hasn’t been paid. Of spotrac.com’s 14 financial categories for running backs, Zeke ranks among the top five in 12. First or second in nine. His $10.9 million base salary this fall would rank second only to Christian McCaffrey’s $11.8 million.
Let’s just say that, at this point, there’s more than a $900,000 difference between Zeke and McCaffrey. Zeke’s burst has gone bust. He’s a great teammate and as tough as they come, and he can get a hard yard. Still great at picking up blitzes, too. But, let’s face it, that better describes an old-fashioned fullback than one of the league’s highest-paid running backs.
The Joneses, who sounded more like Zeke’s agents than his employers, argued this week that statistics don’t measure his impact. Stephen Jones even made a curious comparison, calling Pollard “more of a fan’s guy. You see the flash and you see the juice.
“Zeke is a blue-collar guy that is bringing things to the table that’s hard to define.”
A blue-collar guy paid on a white-collar scale.
Zeke reportedly would accept a pay cut to stay, and the Cowboys hint that’s what it would take. But would he play for less than seven figures? Because that’s all a third-round running back makes. And that’s all the Cowboys should invest in someone getting 10-12 carries a game behind Pollard, a guy well past deserving the title of lead back.
Not to mention a guy who might be more inclined to re-sign if he knows he has the title.
Let’s hope the Joneses heed their own logic about dumping Cooper’s contract and do what’s best for roster construction this year by letting Zeke go, too. Trust me, Jerry, your instincts were right last time. You have no idea how hard that was to type.
Twitter: @KSherringtonDMN
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