Amari Cooper heard of Michael Thomas’ record-setting contract. How much does he care?
Good thing Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper is known for big plays on the field because he is the epitome of laid back, understated, matter-of-fact and unassuming off it.
It’s more quiet confidence than laissez-faire.
Either way, it’s hard to get a rise out of Cooper.
Consider his reaction to the record-setting five-year, $100 million contract Saints receiver Michael Thomas got Wednesday.
“It was a big contract, good for him,” Cooper said barely above a whisper.
Do you think it will have any impact on your negotiations with the Cowboys on a long-term contract extension?
“I don’t know if it will. Hopefully,” Cooper said before laughing. “It was big.”
The truth is that Thomas’ deal is one of two deals, including a prospective one for Falcons receiver Julio Jones, that Cooper’s agent was hoping would raise the market for receivers before getting down to serious talks with the Cowboys.
But that’s what he is paying them to do, allowing Cooper to focus on football and training camp.
It helps that he is making $13.9 million in 2019 on the final year of his rookie deal, and that any extension will be for at least $17 million annually.
“I am not anxious about the contract,” Cooper said. “It’s not on my mind. I’m more interested in football.”
Cooper said he heard about Thomas’ deal on social media but it wrong to say he was following it.
“I just have social media,” Cooper said. “It follows me.”
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Cooper’s ability to block out the noise and focus on football has been one of the most impressive things about him dating back to his days at Alabama under Nick Saban.
Garrett said Saban gave him the book on Cooper’s professionalism when he was coming out in the draft in 2015 and also when the Cowboys revisited the situation with him before acquiring him from the Raiders last year for a first-round pick.
“Line 1 for me with Amari Cooper is that he’s a pro,” Garrett said. “And he comes to work, he’s a very serious-minded guy. He really works very hard at football, has got an excellent football IQ, an excellent work ethic and really, really good focus on what he needs to do, and I think it probably falls into that.
“He wants to make sure he’s doing everything he can to get himself right to be the best player he can be. Obviously there’ a business side of football. We all understand that. But his focus is what he needs to do on the field to get better. I think he’s embracing the opportunity to be with us through the offseason and through training camp to lay the foundation.”
Cooper made a huge impact on the Cowboys offense last year, catching 53 passes for 725 yards and six touchdowns in nine games after coming over after the bye week.
There is a natural excitement about what he can do in 16 games in 2019 after a full offseason and training camp gaining chemistry with quarterback Dak Prescott.
“He’s excited to really understand what our offensive system is all about, connect with Dak and use this opportunity to get better,” Garrett said. “That’s where his focus is and I believe he’ll let the business side take care of itself.”
With Kellen Moore taking over as offensive coordinator, the Cowboys will feature more motion and will move Cooper all over the formation to create mismatches and free him up.
“I liked to be moved around a lot,” Cooper said. “The defense can’t know or expect me to be in just one place. They can’t really key on me. That gets me freed up.”
Garrett said moving Cooper around is just about taking advantage of his versatility.
“I think it goes to how smart he is as a person and how smart he is as a football player, and then how talented he is,” Garrett said. “It’s not like you say, ‘Boy, he’s a great outside receiver but not really good in the slot. Or ‘He’s a really good slot guy but, I’ll tell you what, you really don’t want him outside very much.’ That’s not really the case.
“You see him run a lot of different routes from a lot of different places. He runs them to all levels of the defense. He’s good against man. He’s good against zone. He’s got a really good feel for playing. He’s got a really good skill set and he’s got talent. He’s got ability, quickness, speed, acceleration and a really good understanding of the game.”
Just don’t ask him about his contract situation.
He doesn’t care.
This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 6:00 PM.
