Tyreek Hill Trade Makes Cowboys Amari Cooper Deal Look Even Worse
FRISCO - All trades are not created equal.
But some of them, at least on the surface, seem similar.
The Dallas Cowboys opened this NFL free agency period by trading multi-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns. Dallas' payoff?
A fifth-round pick.
The Kansas City Chiefs just continued this NFL free agency period by trading multi-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins. Kansas City's payoff?
Ummm ... more than a fifth-round pick.
In fact, KC got five picks: a 2022 first-round pick (No. 29), a second-round pick (No. 50) and a fourth-round pick, plus fourth- and sixth-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft.
How did the Chiefs get almost infinitely more than the Cowboys got?
It cannot be ignored that when it comes to receiver trades, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has an ugly track record that just became more hideous via last week's desperate dealing of Cooper to the Browns. ... a deal that on Wednesday went official. ... complete with Cooper's new jersey and number photo released by the Browns.
In their latest receiver tragic trick, the Cowboys turned a first-round draft pick into a fifth. And during the four-season period that Cooper's value was deteriorating, he helped Dallas win only one playoff game - a home Wild Card game over the Seattle in 2018.
Is Cooper the same as Hill? Of course not. But one of the similarities is the money. While Dallas engineered a salary dump because it didn't want to pay Cooper his $20 million, leaving Cleveland to happily pick up the tab, the Chiefs also didn't want to meet Hill's salary demands.
So the Dolphins picked up the bill (in the form of a new four-year, $120 million extension, including $72.2 million guaranteed) ... and gave up the treasure chest of picks.
The Dolphins at one time were interest in taking on Cooper, a Miami native.
Did the Cowboys not investigate thoroughly? Not negotiate vigorously? Or maybe, did they show their hand so obviously on their distain for Cooper that the entire NFL knew for weeks he was about to be cut ... leaving him to be traded for nothing?
Compare that to Tyreek's setup: Before Wednesday morning, who knew he might get dealt?
Nobody but the Chiefs.
And by lunch time ... he was dealt.
The Tyreek thing creates at least the impression that Dallas screwed itself on Cooper. Sadly for Jones, Cooper isn't Jerry's worst receiver trade. The terrible trio:
3. AMARI COOPER, 2018 - The Cowboys gave up their first-round pick in 2019 (27th overall) to get Cooper from the Raiders in 2018. The real problem came two years later, when Jones signed him to a five-year, $100 contract.
Facing paying a declining player - who seemingly quit during last season's playoff to the 49ers - $20 million, the Cowboys considered cutting Cooper before salvaging a fifth-round pick.
The stink of this trade isn't all on Cooper. He was more productive in Dallas than with the Raiders, and made the Pro Bowl 2018-19. But because of Jones' other contractual gaffes - dragging out (and thereby escalating) contract talks with players such as DeMarcus Lawrence and Dak Prescott and prematurely rewarding Ezekiel Elliott despite two years remaining on his rookie deal - Cooper became a luxury the Cowboys could no longer afford.
When he wouldn't agree to a pay cut after a sub-par season, he was salvaged. (And again, when Hill and the Chiefs became unhappy with one another ... he created a KC bonanza in value.)
2. JOEY GALLOWAY, 2000 - With Troy Aikman's career taking its last gasps and Michael Irvin freshly retired, Jones needed a receiver ... and a splash. So he sent two - yes two - first-round draft picks to Seattle for Joey Galloway.
This wasn't totally Jones' miscalculation, but the bottom line was a catastrophe as the speedster suffered a torn ACL in his first game. In four seasons in Dallas, Galloway caught only four touchdowns. Worse, Aikman retired after 2000 and Jones had no high draft with which to rebuild, much less find a new franchise quarterback.
Enter, Quincy Carter.
But wait, it gets worse. In 2004 Jones dealt Galloway to the Buccaneers for 32-year-old Keyshawn Johnson. In Tampa, Galloway resurrected his career and produced three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. And in Seattle, one of the first-round picks acquired from the Cowboys turned into 2005 NFL Most Valuable Player Shaun Alexander.
Ouch.
1. ROY WILLIAMS, 2008 - Even after the Galloway debacle, Jones didn't learn his lesson about mortgaging his team's future for risky receivers.
In what is widely recognized as the worst trade in Cowboys history - Jones publicly admits "I'd like to have that one back." - they sent a first-, third- and sixth-round pick to the Lions for the 2006 Pro Bowl receiver. To make matters worse - similar to Cooper - Jones immediately signed Williams to a $54 million contract.
Supposedly paired with Owens to give emerging quarterback Tony Romo an elite receiving duo on a team with Super Bowl potential, Williams instead never topped 40 catches or 600 yards in his only two seasons in Dallas.
The Cowboys cut Williams before training camp in 2011.
All historically bad. But the Cooper one? It just got historically worse.
