Amari Cooper vs. Jerry Jones: Ex Cowboys WR Responds to Owner's Criticism

OXNARD, Calif. - Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper is responding to team owner Jerry Jones kicking off 2022 by taking one last swipe at 2021.

“No, what comments?” Cooper said this week from his new home at Cleveland Browns training camp.

But later, in a one-on-interview with cleveland.com, Cooper shed some light on his departure from Dallas - with a particular focus on his 2021 in-season decision to not get vaccinated, which did not help the Cowboys' view of him.

“I wouldn’t say it was me marching to my own drum,’’ Cooper said. “At the end of the day, I do understand that football is a team sport. But it was such an unprecedented type of moment in the NFL’s history for the decision to be made about putting something that not many people — not anybody knew — the effects of it, into your body.

“For reasons that I don’t really want to discuss, I wasn’t really able to do it.”

The Cowboys this offseason trade-dumped Cooper, while also losing defensive end Randy Gregory to free agency while cutting offensive tackle La'el Collins.

"We lost some key players," Jones admitted during his Cowboys' "State of the Union" press conference in Oxnard. "But it was our decision to lose them."

In amplifying that stance, Jones reminded that the three players were among the team's top-10 highest salaries. In essence, he said that Cooper, Gregory and Collins didn't provide a manageable bang for buck.

"Those decisions were base more on availability than ability," Jones said. "It had everything to do with it. When you're talking about top-10 money and you get around to half-ass availability ... I'm not talking Pig Latin here. I wanna be straight. I love those players personally. But the No. 1 thing you've got to do as a player to help us win football games is availability."

Gregory suffered a calf injury late in the season and started 11 of Dallas' 17 games. Collins was suspended five games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. And Cooper, who was unvaccinated, missed two games late in the year with COVID-19 and his lack of effort in the team's playoff loss was "troubling" to team management.

Maintained Jones, "I think we are in better shape to win a title this year than we were last year."

The Cowboys went 12-5 and won the NFC East last season before a bitterly disappointing Wild Card loss to the San Francisco 49ers - a game that to some in the organization was keyed by a lack of full effort from Cooper.

“It’s like freedom of speech,’’ Cooper said. “You have the freedom to say whatever you want, but it doesn’t mean you won’t be scrutinized or talked badly about for expressing those thoughts.’’

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