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DCC 4Life
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- Apr 10, 2013
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By Mike Fisher
FRISCO - To the Dallas Cowboys' credit, they didn't blindly ignore the cautionary sign thrown up by former NFL exec Michael Lombardi when he recently suggested that the Oakland Raiders made him available in trade due to an alleged "lack of love for football.''
Little wonder, then, that when I asked Cowboys coach Jason Garrett on Tuesday about his research into Cooper and Dallas' ensuing trade for him, that "passion or the game'' was central to the conversation.
I asked Garrett if he'd spoken to Alabama coach Nick Saban, who is a Garrett mentor and who oversaw Cooper's stellar time with the Crimson Tide.
"Absolutely,'' Garrett responded.
Then I asked if Saban gave Cooper a thumbs-up as an "RKG'' ("Right Kind of Guy'' and a player who "loves the game.''
"Absolutely,'' Garrett responded again.
This issue may have been among the reasons the Raiders shopped the 24-year-old two-time Pro Bowler in the first place, and hey, maybe there is something about 1-5 Oakland's recent on-field work that has impacted Cooper's passion. But to Dallas' credit, due diligence was done here, up and down the Cowboys' organizational chart. That includes final approach, of course, from owner Jerry Jones, as well as COO Stephen Jones as the point man who finally made the Monday morning offer of a 2019 first-round pick, along with personnel guro Will McClay (who intensified his research into the idea on Sunday morning before the team's loss at Washington) to coordinator Scott Linehan (who has supervised two guys who've served as Cooper's coordinators in Oakland) to tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier, who was Cooper's coordinator at Alabama in the receiver's first two years there.
But Saban is regarded as maybe the sport's best evaluator of talent, and as a long-time fixture in the SEC and at Alabama, his front-row view on players is invaluable. ... as is his honesty in sharing information with colleagues like Garrett.
None of that automatically means Cooper returns to the times when he had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to start his career before slumping in 2017, or that he returns to the Pro Bowl for which he's qualified twice, or that his presence helps QB Dak Prescott push 3-4 Dallas into the NFL Playoffs. It doesn't guarantee that he'll be worth the money he's eventually paid (Dallas will surely attempt to negotiate a long-term contract beyond the $13.9 million he's due next year) and it doesn't guarantee he's better than the player Dallas might've drafted with this first-rounder (though the recent history of receivers chosen high insists that Cooper is head-and-shoulders above them).
What it does mean is that the Cowboys heeded the warnings -- Lombardi said last week on The Ringer NFL Podcast that Oakland doesn't think "Cooper has got great passion for the sport. ... I don’t think they think he loves football'' -- and found their own answers.
2COMMENTS
Garrett and Saban speak the same football language. Did the Cowboys hear what they needed to hear from the greatest possible Amari Cooper insider?
Absolutely.
FRISCO - To the Dallas Cowboys' credit, they didn't blindly ignore the cautionary sign thrown up by former NFL exec Michael Lombardi when he recently suggested that the Oakland Raiders made him available in trade due to an alleged "lack of love for football.''
Little wonder, then, that when I asked Cowboys coach Jason Garrett on Tuesday about his research into Cooper and Dallas' ensuing trade for him, that "passion or the game'' was central to the conversation.
I asked Garrett if he'd spoken to Alabama coach Nick Saban, who is a Garrett mentor and who oversaw Cooper's stellar time with the Crimson Tide.
"Absolutely,'' Garrett responded.
Then I asked if Saban gave Cooper a thumbs-up as an "RKG'' ("Right Kind of Guy'' and a player who "loves the game.''
"Absolutely,'' Garrett responded again.
This issue may have been among the reasons the Raiders shopped the 24-year-old two-time Pro Bowler in the first place, and hey, maybe there is something about 1-5 Oakland's recent on-field work that has impacted Cooper's passion. But to Dallas' credit, due diligence was done here, up and down the Cowboys' organizational chart. That includes final approach, of course, from owner Jerry Jones, as well as COO Stephen Jones as the point man who finally made the Monday morning offer of a 2019 first-round pick, along with personnel guro Will McClay (who intensified his research into the idea on Sunday morning before the team's loss at Washington) to coordinator Scott Linehan (who has supervised two guys who've served as Cooper's coordinators in Oakland) to tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier, who was Cooper's coordinator at Alabama in the receiver's first two years there.
But Saban is regarded as maybe the sport's best evaluator of talent, and as a long-time fixture in the SEC and at Alabama, his front-row view on players is invaluable. ... as is his honesty in sharing information with colleagues like Garrett.
None of that automatically means Cooper returns to the times when he had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to start his career before slumping in 2017, or that he returns to the Pro Bowl for which he's qualified twice, or that his presence helps QB Dak Prescott push 3-4 Dallas into the NFL Playoffs. It doesn't guarantee that he'll be worth the money he's eventually paid (Dallas will surely attempt to negotiate a long-term contract beyond the $13.9 million he's due next year) and it doesn't guarantee he's better than the player Dallas might've drafted with this first-rounder (though the recent history of receivers chosen high insists that Cooper is head-and-shoulders above them).
What it does mean is that the Cowboys heeded the warnings -- Lombardi said last week on The Ringer NFL Podcast that Oakland doesn't think "Cooper has got great passion for the sport. ... I don’t think they think he loves football'' -- and found their own answers.
2COMMENTS
Garrett and Saban speak the same football language. Did the Cowboys hear what they needed to hear from the greatest possible Amari Cooper insider?
Absolutely.
