Bolt
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
- 1,581
- 0
Amari Cooper has seen reports that the Saints and Michael Thomas are close to a deal that will make Thomas the highest-paid receiver in the game at somewhere between $19 million and $20 million a season. In contract talks of his own with the Cowboys, Cooper shrugs.
“I don’t even think about it. I think the media thinks about it more than I do,” Cooper said Saturday. “I just think its one of those things that’s going to come naturally whether it happens in this [training camp] or not. It’s not really that big of a deal to me honestly.”
Oh, it will be a big deal as Cooper will become one of the highest-paid receivers in the game when it’s all signed and done.
Unlike Thomas and his Cowboys teammate, running back Ezekiel Elliott, Cooper is with his teammates in training camp.
“Different strokes for different folks,” Cooper said. “Their situations are different than mine. I have a fifth-year option coming up to where I get paid a significant amount of money if I play on that. But the running back position, you know Melvin [Gordon] is one of my good friends, and he tells me the contract he would play on this year, it’s nothing. It’s peanuts to an elephant. Everybody’s situation is different.”
Cooper, who has a guaranteed salary of $13.924 million in 2019 on the fifth-year option, never considered sitting out. He showed up for all the voluntary work in addition to the mandatory minicamp and training camp.
“I want to be here,” Cooper said. “I haven’t really been thinking about my contract situation because I don’t know. I don’t know why. I want to be here. I want to be out here running routes. I want to be out here catching balls from Dak [Prescott] because I think it’s necessary, and I think it’s going to help me achieve what I want to achieve this season.”
Cooper already has said he wants a 2,000-yard season. His price tag likely is only going to rise the longer he remains without a long-term deal.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Friday that Prescott, Cooper and Elliott all have “solid” offers. Cooper might not even know what the offer is.
He has told his agent not to provide him with play-by-play of talks. Cooper said he has gotten two or three updates since negotiations began.
“I guess I’m just optimistic about it, and it’s something that’s going to happen whether it’s today, tomorrow or whenever,” Cooper said. “I’m not worried about me getting hurt or something like that and it not happening. I just don’t think like that.”
Cooper isn’t sweating the big stuff. If it doesn’t happen during training camp, he’s “fine with that.” If happens during the season, that’s OK with him, too.
“I’m not even worried about it,” Cooper said. “Obviously, I’ve never been in that situation before where I was up for a contract, but I just look at it as one of those things that’s going to happen when it happens. I’m not worried about it at all to be honest.”