With a new CBA potentially imminent, the Dallas Cowboys are ramping up their efforts to secure a new contract for wide receiver Amari Cooper before he becomes a free agent on March 18.
According to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys met with Cooper’s agents at the NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday.
The reason a new CBA is so important to the Cooper situation is that the 2020 season under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement would allow teams to use both the franchise tag and transition tag on impending free agents. Under those rules, the Cowboys could franchise quarterback Dak Prescott while placing the transition tag on Cooper and keep the two players tethered to the team while they iron out new agreements with the team. If the new CBA is ratified by the NFLPA, the secondary tag options disappears and Cooper is likely free to reach free agency.
“It removes a very strategic thing for us,” owner Jerry Jones said, “and that is we only have one (tag) — we lose the transition. Strategically, that was really thought of a lot because with our negotiations with Dak and our negotiations with Cooper. … It’s what it is. We just have to figure out a way to do it.”
Per Gehlken, the team told Cooper’s agents that they still want to re-sign both Cooper and Prescott to long-term deals.
