Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t hesitate Sunday night when asked whether he still planned to sign receiver Amari Cooper to a long-term deal.
“Yes. The answer is yes to that,” Jones said.
The Cowboys don’t lose many players they truly want to keep, so the expectation is Cooper will remain in Dallas long term. Cooper is scheduled to become a free agent March 18.
Questions arose about Cooper’s future after he was on the sideline with the Cowboys’ season on the line on a fourth-down play late in the Week 16 loss to the Eagles. The incomplete pass intended for Michael Gallup ended up being the final play of the game and essentially sealed the team’s postseason fate.
The Eagles beat the Giants in Week 17 to win the NFC East, deeming the Cowboys’ victory over Washington as meaningless.
Cooper, who had four catches for 24 yards against the Eagles and one for 19 in Week 15 against the Rams, reiterated his health had nothing to do with his end-of-season slump.
“Sometimes when you’re having success, you tend to lose focus on the little things that you need to do to keep playing well,” Cooper said, via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “For example, if you catch a lot of balls early on, it starts to feel like that’s just what you do, that’s just who you are instead of realizing the reason you’re able to catch all those balls is because you’re focusing on the fundamentals. You’re looking the ball all the way through and stuff like that. When it becomes routine, you stop doing those things.
“You can never really get away from the fundamentals of anything that you’re doing. That’s just something that I think I can be better at. Next season, for example, if I start off great, I feel it would be real helpful if I remind myself, ‘Hey, stay focused. Stick to the fundamentals.’ Like I said, that’s something I think I can get better at.”
Cooper caught 79 passes for a career-best 1,189 yards and eight touchdowns. Most of that came in the first nine games when he made 53 receptions for 848 yards and seven touchdowns, ranking third in the NFL in receiving yards.
“I wouldn’t say I hit my potential this season, even though it’s a career high in yards and touchdowns,” Cooper said. “I thought I could have accomplished a lot more. But I didn’t. It’s just a good reason to be able to go back to the drawing board and work my butt off this offseason. In a way, it can be a good thing because now I know, coming into next year, it’s actually something that I can top because I know for a fact that, down the stretch this season, I didn’t perform at a level in which I know I can perform.”
