Cowboys Rumor: Trade for Amari Cooper?

ARLINGTON - The anatomy of this rumor is easy to trace ... and confounding to consider. The Dallas Cowboys - with a collection of offensive weaponry that features CeeDee Lamb but too little else - should certainly be the subject of speculation when it comes to how to upgrade that.

And it is incumbent on owner Jerry Jones and staff to explore all avenues to do so.

But how has that fact accelerated into a story that would have the Cowboys reuniting with "Shrinkage'' wideout Amari Cooper? Let's look at the anatomy ... in five simple steps ...

STEP 1: According to ESPN's Dan Graziano, the Cowboys are among the teams who would "love'' to be in the mix for a wide receiver trade ahead of the league's November 5 deadline . Graziano even goes so far as to stuff the Cowboys' name into paragraphs that include the likes of Davante Adams.

Where'd he come up with this? We have no idea. But as we've said in reflection on his "report'' ...

Adams has a cap hit of $25 million; that would eat up every penny of Dallas' available cap room - room that is presently earmarked to be carried over to 2025 as part of the "Blow It Up/Remodel'' plan. And what about after that?

The facts: Adams is 32. He under contract to age 34, through 2026. His cap hits in 2025 and 2026? That'd be $44 million and $45 million.

Who's ESPN think it's kidding here? There is virtually no way a source from inside the Cowboys told this reporter that they're sniffing around an Adams trade.

The Cowboys would "love'' to improve at wide receiver. But that's a wildly unlikely path.

STEP 2: The "insider'' also mentions as a potential trade candidate Cleveland Browns wide receiver Cooper, who the Cowboys are more than familiar with. ... and a Twitter account called "Football Forever'' posted the suggestion that there is a Cowboys/Cooper interest.

The Cowboys, of course, trade-dumped Cooper in 2022, sending him to the Browns for a fifth-round pick and a sixth-round pick swap. Why? Because they didn't view him as a full-effort-giving ("Shrinkage!'') "foundational'' star worthy of being paid $20 million APY .

So they cut their losses. That's a fact.

But that innocuous tweet from an account with no Cowboys (or NFL) connections has 800,000 views ... and it's spawned all sorts of speculation ...

STEP 3: Including even from our friend Clarence Hill, the long-time Dallas beat writer who posted : "If the Cowboys are still in the (playoff) race (at the deadline), they need to flip a fifth-round pick for Cooper.''

We're all entitled to our opinions, and we respect Hill's. After all, Cooper was a four-time Pro Bowler in Dallas with two 1,000-yard seasons.

But ... Through two games in Cleveland, Cooper has only five catches for 27 yards. ... and just two weeks in, he's dropped two "sure'' TD passes. That leads to the question of why Dallas would want him.

Meanwhile, the Browns made the playoffs last year and view themselves of worthy of doing it again. That leads to the question of why Cleveland would not want him.

Cooper is on the final year of his deal. So he'd be a rental in Dallas - but a pricy one. Is the five-time Pro Bowler worth $20 million now at age, when the Cowboys determined two years ago that he wasn't worth that at age $28?

Also involved: The Browns just fully-guaranteed that Cooper salary and tacked on an additional $5 million in incentives. Additionally, it seems that Cleveland would owe the cap $6 million in a trade ... meaning that a Cooper deal as suggested would a) cost them money, b) weaken their roster and c) net them only a low Day 3 pick.

Tell us again why Cleveland is doing this?

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What ESPN's done here is toss a bucketful of big-name players into a story ... and then tossing the Cowboys in there, too ... and leaving the audience to assume that any loose connection is actually a tight connection. But simply put: The Cowboys present plan as of this writing does not include a blockbuster trade for any $20 million receiver in his 30s. If that changes - and a bunch of wins and the trade deadline might make it so - we'll let you know.