After starting the 2018 season in a slump, the Cowboys sent a first-round pick to Oakland to get dynamic receiver Amari Cooper.  Cooper was a hero, helping the team go from the dump to division champs.  Now, the Cowboys are looking to extend the young star and keep him long-term.  Unfortunately for Dallas, the quiet Cooper could be trying to milk the team for everything they are worth.

Cooper, who just turned 25, is entering the final year of his rookie contract.  The Cowboys picked up his fifth-year option and is due to make $13.924 million in 2019. The team already has expressed their desire to extend Cooper when they made the trade and Cooper seems to like it here.  In fact, the quiet Cooper isn’t even thinking about his contract right now.

“I feel like it’s one of those things that will just naturally happen,” Cooper said.  “I just handle my business. I’m more anxious about camp and actually playing football.”

Whether he is thinking about it or not, the man is deserving of getting major contract on par with the other top receivers in the NFL.  In just 11 games with the Cowboys, including the playoffs, he caught 66 passes for 896 yards and seven touchdowns.

The Cowboys want to get a deal done, but the price is getting higher and he might just wait for it.

According to former agent Joel Corry, Cooper’s agent could wait until both Michael Thomas and Julio Jones get their new deals done.  The respective teams want deals done soon. This could set up favorably for Cooper to cash in a new receiver market.

Joel Segal, Amari Cooper’s agent, has no incentive to get anything done with Dallas until Julio Jones & Michael Thomas have new contracts since the deals should positively impact the WR market.

— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) June 18, 2019

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Right now, the top receiver contract belongs to Odell Beckham Jr.  worth $90 million. Meanwhile, Cooper isn’t even in the top-10 in his position.  If Cooper’s agent is truly waiting to see how the market shakes out, this is bad news for the Cowboys.

The team has a problem with waiting too long to pay their players and then the market jumps and now they have to overpay their players.  Making good deals early saves the team millions of dollars. One way or another, good players will get their money.  No need to wait it out.

How to fix the problem?  Easy, get Cooper in for a deal now.  Pay him, give him a substantial offer he can’t refuse and beat the other teams to the punch. By, offering him a deal now, you show that you are serious about paying your players and you avoid having to over-inflate the deal thanks to a unstable market.

They made this mistake with Tank Lawrence and that was’t too pretty. Don’t let it happen this time.  Be proactive, bite the bullet and sign Cooper now.