Cowboys owner Jerry Jones expresses frustration with WR Amari Cooper

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones had plenty to say during Friday's appearance on local radio station 105.3 The Fan. While he refused to openly commit to keeping Mike McCarthy as head coach through the entire offseason, he spoke very highly of quarterback Dak Prescott and made it clear Prescott is, in his mind, QB1 for the foreseeable future. 

According to ESPN stats, wide receiver Amari Cooper finished the regular season tied for first on the Cowboys with eight receiving touchdowns, second with 865 receiving yards, third with 68 catches and tied for second with 104 targets. Jones specifically named Cooper as an offensive weapon he expects to see more from moving forward. 

"The way we were playing early when he did make something happen, I thought Cooper had a big part of it. And I’m not being trite," Jones explained, per Jori Epstein of USA Today. "But how he fits in, he should take half the field with him when he runs a route. Half is an exaggeration of course, but a whole bunch of that defense should have to honor Cooper. And he ought to be able to catch it in the middle of when they’re going with him. Others do. You throw to people that are covered all the time in the NFL, you have to. Most people don’t have the numbers of receivers we have in the NFL." 

As Clarence E. Hill Jr. noted for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Cooper's salary of $20 million for the 2022 season becomes fully guaranteed on March 20, the fifth day of the new NFL year. Judging by Jones' comments, it seems Cooper could become a salary-cap casualty at some point over the next two months.