The players have voted to approve the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and Amari Cooper looks like he’ll be the first big winner. He’s very good, he’s 25, and he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent.
Had the vote failed (with no agreement reached) teams would have been able to protect two players. Instead, it’s going to be just one for each team. So the Cowboys can’t protect both Dak Prescott and Cooper. Similarly, the Titans won’t be able to lock down both Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry (reports suggest they’re nearing a deal with Tannehill).
It’s not official yet, but the Cowboys are expected to use their franchise tag on Prescott, making Cooper a rare elite 25-year-old receiver to reach unrestricted free agency. And as an added benefit, the salary cap is rising by another $10 million, putting another $320 million in play that teams can spend this year.
The cap has risen by about $10 million seven year in a row – from $123 million in 2013 to $198.2 million for 2020.
Working against Cooper is a deep group of rookie receivers. It’s a great year to select wide receivers in the second, third and fourth rounds. But some team (maybe Dallas) is going to offer Cooper a ton of money.
Since arriving in Dallas by a trade, Cooper has averaged 16.3 fantasy points per game, slotting him 11th among wide receivers. That’s PPR scoring, and adjusting to account for missed games.
In the chart below, you’re seeing per-game numbers for the top 30 wide receivers of the last two years. Cooper is different from the other 29 in that you’re not looking at his full two years (he was ineffective with the Raiders early in 2018, but I’m showing you just his Cowboys numbers).
| WIDE RECEIVERS PER GAME (2018-19) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yds | TD | PPR |
| Michael Thomas, N.O. | 32 | 8.6 | 97.8 | .56 | 21.7 |
| Antonio Brown, Pit.-N.E. | 16 | 6.8 | 84.6 | 1.00 | 21.2 |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | 27 | 7.2 | 88.3 | .69 | 20.2 |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Hou. | 31 | 7.1 | 88.3 | .61 | 19.6 |
| Julio Jones, Atl. | 31 | 6.8 | 99.1 | .45 | 19.5 |
| Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 28 | 5.2 | 83.5 | .75 | 18.7 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 29 | 5.3 | 92.4 | .60 | 18.1 |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 24 | 5.6 | 72.0 | .67 | 16.9 |
| Julian Edelman, N.E. | 28 | 6.2 | 70.3 | .46 | 16.6 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 32 | 6.3 | 74.8 | .39 | 16.4 |
| Amari Cooper, Dall. | 25 | 5.3 | 76.6 | .56 | 16.3 |
| Adam Thielen, Min. | 26 | 5.5 | 68.9 | .63 | 16.3 |
| Stefon Diggs, Min. | 30 | 5.5 | 71.7 | .51 | 16.1 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | 31 | 5.7 | 75.9 | .32 | 16.1 |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 29 | 4.9 | 73.3 | .57 | 15.7 |
| Odell Beckham, NYG-Cle. | 28 | 5.4 | 74.5 | .38 | 15.4 |
| T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 24 | 5.0 | 73.8 | .46 | 15.2 |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 30 | 5.5 | 69.1 | .40 | 14.9 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 28 | 5.5 | 70.6 | .37 | 14.8 |
| Kenny Golladay, Det. | 31 | 4.4 | 72.7 | .52 | 14.7 |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 32 | 4.3 | 63.2 | .57 | 14.3 |
| Jarvis Landry, Cle. | 32 | 5.1 | 67.2 | .35 | 14.3 |
| Allen Robinson, Chi. | 29 | 5.3 | 65.6 | .38 | 14.1 |
| DJ Moore, Car. | 25 | 5.2 | 70.9 | .20 | 14.1 |
| Marvin Jones, Det. | 22 | 4.4 | 58.5 | .64 | 14.1 |
| Calvin Ridley, Atl. | 29 | 4.4 | 58.2 | .60 | 14.0 |
| A.J. Brown, Ten. | 16 | 3.3 | 65.7 | .56 | 13.6 |
| Alshon Jeffery, Phil. | 23 | 4.7 | 58.0 | .48 | 13.4 |
| Will Fuller, Hou. | 18 | 4.5 | 65.2 | .39 | 13.4 |
| Emmanuel Sanders, Den.-S.F. | 29 | 4.7 | 59.9 | .39 | 13.3 |
The other key pass catcher in free agency (as we were discussing earlier) is Austin Hooper. He’s also going to be unrestricted. Hunter Henry got tagged by franchise, guaranteeing him about $11 million for this year. With the cap rising by $10 million, I’m expecting Hooper will get a much better contract (even if he isn’t necessarily better than Henry).
—Ian Allan