Source: Cowboys Win Free Agent Amari Cooper with 5-Year, $100M Deal

FRISCO - The NFL franchise tag deadline came and went, and for a moment, so, it seemed, did the chance to retain receiver Amari Cooper. But about 11 hours after that morning deadline - and after Cooper dipped his toe into free-agency waters - he's re-secured by Dallas with a what a source tells CowboysSI.com is a five-year deal worth $100 million that meets his commitment to being a 'Cowboy for Life.'

"I love being a Dallas Cowboy,'' Cooper said recently. "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."

As we wrote early Monday morning, the buzz from inside The Star was that Dallas was "closer to'' finalizing a deal with Cooper than it was with QB Dak Prescott. Prescott ended up getting the tag, and maybe Cooper truly was "close to'' enough to a deal that it simply took a bit more time.

Some nuggets here:

*The $20 mil APY puts Cooper in the upper level with Julio Jones of the Falcons at $22 mil for the highest APY for a receiver in NFL history.

*Ian Rapoport reports that the deal includes $60 million in guarantees.

*A source close to the negotiations tells CowboysSI.com that Cooper spurned other offers - maybe even ones larger than this - to stay in Dallas.

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.''

But Dallas moved forward with their vow to make him a top priority.

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 about wishing to keep Amari, "is 'yes.''

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