It took a lot of moving parts for Amari Cooper to get to Cleveland. In addition to the Cowboys deciding his contract no longer fits their salary cap, Cooper’s Brown arrival also appears to be dependent on trade negotiations with the Falcons. Before the Browns turned their attention to Cooper in March 2022, they were one of Calvin Ridley’s teams, according to Albert Breer of SI.com.
Ridley Eagles “What If?” also represents one of the large-scale dominoes of an important season in the history of the station; the browns are here now too. The Eagles almost got Ridley before his suspension came out, but the Browns also made a deal with the Falcons. Breer adds that the team expected Chris Godwin and Mike Williams to be franchise-tagged. Only Godwin was, but Williams re-signed with the Chargers to match Cooper’s 2020 terms (three years, $60 million) just before 2022 free agency.
That took the pieces off the table for the Browns, who traded for Deshaun Watson. With Ridley off the table because of the suspension, the Browns got Cooper for a much lower price than what the Cowboys paid to lure him away from the Raiders in 2018. The Cowboys, who sent a first-round pick to the Raiders for Cooper in 2018, traded him to the Browns for a fifth and sixth round pick.
Other teams were waiting to see if the Cowboys would cut Cooper to Breer, but his contract no longer seems particularly onerous. Jerry Jones said keeping Cooper became unrealistic last year and CeeDee Lamb is on the Cowboys’ expansion ladder. However, the Browns benefited greatly from Cooper’s flyer last year. After breaking Josh Gordon’s single-game rushing record with 265 yards, Cooper eclipsed his single-season career high on Sunday. The ninth-year veteran is now at 1,250, surpassing his previous career best of 1,160 – 2022 Browns. Cooper, 29, now has seven career 1,000-yard seasons. For a team that started four quarterbacks, the former first-five pick was vital to staying in the playoff race.
