Free-Agent WR Amari Cooper: 'I Think About 'Cowboys for Life' Every Day'

FRISCO - The NFL franchise tag deadline approaches and the Dallas Cowboys status with receiver Amari Cooper is unchanged. But so, he says, is his commitment to being a 'Cowboy for Life.'

"I love being a Dallas Cowboy,'' Cooper told 105.3 The Fan on Thursday night. "I love everything about it. I think about it every day. Just the aura of being a Dallas Cowboy, you can't beat it. I want to be a Cowboy for life."

In 2019, Cooper led the Cowboys in catches (79), receiving yards (1,189), and touchdowns (eight) and continued his streak of being a perennial Pro Bowler. But his performance was "streaky,'' too - which has caused some inside The Star to second-guess the team's plan to pay him like a "top-five receiver.''

Without a contract, Cooper can be franchise-tagged - unless a new CBA is agreed to and a new deal for QB Dak Prescott isn't agreed to, in which case Dallas would tag Prescott, leaving Cooper to become an unfettered free agent.

The Cooper-Prescott relationship, by the way, is another attraction Amari has to remaining in Dallas.

"We've built a good relationship so far,'' Cooper said. "From the time I got here (in an October 2018 trade with the Raiders), we were able to hit the ground running, and just from my experience in being in the NFL I wouldn't say that's a common thing.

"Sometimes you can line up with a quarterback after getting traded or going to a new team, whether it's the draft or whatever, and it not go smooth. And so, I wouldn't try to trade that for anything because I know what can be on the other side of that. I would say it's very important."

Team owner Jerry Jones and COO son Stephen Jones have made it clear in public that Cooper is very important to Dallas' future, tabbing him as the team's "No. 2 priority'' in free agent, behind only Prescott and ahead of other standouts like Byron Jones and Robert Quinn.

"The answer to that,'' Jerry said not long ago, "is 'yes.''

So Cooper is No. 2 to the Cowboys. And once again, Cooper has made it clear that returning to Dallas is his No. 1 choice.