Cowboys finally atone for massive mistake in 2022 offseason

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t been overly aggressive in 2023 NFL free agency, but they’ve made some sneaky great moves. The Cowboys didn’t come into free agency with a ton of salary cap space, and they also had to make running back Tony Pollard a priority, giving him the franchise tag (worth over $10 million).

With Pollard counting $10 million against the cap — fully guaranteed — the Cowboys already made the tough (but correct) move to let go of Ezekiel Elliott as a post-June 1 cap casualty. That will save them the $10.9 million they need to fit Pollard’s number comfortably against this year’s salary cap.

Despite having a relatively quiet offseason for the most part, Dallas obviously knew that they had to go and make a move to upgrade the wide receiver position. While many had been expecting that move to be signing Odell Beckham Jr. or maybe even trading for former Broncos first-round pick Jerry Jeudy, the Cowboys took a relatively big swing without giving up too much by trading for former Houston Texans star receiver Brandin Cooks.

Cowboys’ Brandin Cooks trade atones for Amari Cooper mistake in 2022

Dallas pinched pennies at the wrong spot in the 2022 offseason. For some reason, Jerry Jones thought that it would be better to keep a guy like Dalton Schultz than someone like Amari Cooper, who was a massive piece of the Dallas Cowboys offense. Not that Schultz wasn’t, but it was weird that the Cowboys chose to trade Cooper in a salary dump while tagging Schultz and re-signing the injured Michael Gallup.

Those moves really crushed Dallas at times throughout the course of the season. Gallup had just 39 catches in 2022 and an average per reception under 11. He certainly didn’t give the Cowboys the no. 2 option they needed within the offense.

Cooper, meanwhile, racked up over 1,100 yards and nine touchdowns for the Browns, averaging almost 15 yards per reception. That kind of player would have been nice to have in Dallas last season…

Although Brandin Cooks is not the same guy as Amari Cooper, for the price of a 5th-round pick this year and a 6th-round pick next year? That’s a great bargain. The Cowboys already got a great bargain by landing veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore in a trade with the Colts. Now,  they go and make this kind of a trade with Houston to send Cooks three-and-a-half hours up the road?

The Cowboys are having an underrated offseason. Cooks has been traded four times in his NFL career since being drafted by the Saints — first to the Patriots, then to the Rams, then to the Texans. Now, he’s going from Houston to Dallas and could be a major piece to a championship puzzle for the Cowboys.

If Cooks is able to rack up 1,000-plus yards for the Cowboys this year, he will have accomplished that feat with all five of the teams he’s played for. Dallas is certainly going to air it out in 2023 and this could be the ideal landing spot for Cooks, and a godsend for Dallas.