[ad_1]
The Cowboys are in salary-cap trouble and busy offloading plenty of interesting pieces.
The biggest of them is heading to Cleveland.
The Cowboys are finalizing a trade that will send Amari Cooper and a sixth-rounder to the Browns in exchange for fifth- and sixth-round picks, ESPN first reported Saturday.
Dallas knew it would part somehow with Cooper, whose $20 million salary would have become guaranteed March 20.
The 27-year-old is a four-time Pro Bowler and was a favorite of Dak Prescott’s, with the two hooking up for eight touchdowns and 865 yards last season. Now Cooper will become the top target for Baker Mayfield – unless the Browns, who reportedly have been among the teams researching Deshaun Watson, move on from the former first-overall pick.
Losing Cooper will hurt, but the Cowboys have been trying to free up money for cap-space reasons. They even asked for La’el Collins’ help in finding an easy way to get rid of him.
Dallas told Collins’ agents – Deryk Gilmore and Peter Schaffer – they can seek a trade for their client, Schaffer told ESPN in a story
published on Saturday.
The right tackle has been a solid part of the Cowboys since 2015 and is in the third year of a five-year, $50 million deal. He is scheduled to make $10 million this season if he remains on the Dallas roster, but it appears that one way or another he will be gone.
The 28-year-old Collins was suspended five games last season after reportedly trying to bribe the drug-test collector and was replaced by Terence Steele, who was an undrafted free agent in 2020. Steele ran with the job, and ESPN reported the Cowboys see him as their present and future right tackle.
Whenever he is out of Dallas, through a trade or release, Collins will join Cooper in what has been an offseason of shedding. The Cowboys cut kicker Greg Zuerlein and tight end Blake Jarwin on Friday.
They franchise-tagged tight end Dalton Schultz, but among the free agents they could still lose are defensive end Randy Gregory, receiver Michael Gallup, safeties Jayron Kearse and Malik Hooker, linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and guard Connor Williams.
They already had begun the salary dance by restructuring Prescott’s and Zack Martin’s contracts to save more than $22 million in cap room. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence’s deal might be next – or else he might be gone, too.
The offseason requires plenty of juggling from every team, but the Cowboys have a particularly large number of balls in the air.
[ad_2]