Fans were probably still looking for a reason to get excited about the Dallas Cowboys game in Week 1, and they’re in luck. Finally, after all these months of anticipation, people finally have a reason to get excited about regular season football: Amari Cooper.
Cooper is returning to Dallas for the first time since being traded away from the Cowboys in March 2022, and the stories are writing themselves without wasting any time. He should never have left! He could come back if the Browns’ season is a disaster! Something about Dak Prescott! It’s the kind of news story that only exists because of Twitter — someone in the locker room asks a question, the player gives a perfectly normal answer, and it’s summarized for the whole world to see.
Cooper was recently asked about his return to Dallas and his response ranged from “predictable” to “still predictable, but definitely a stab in the heart of Cowboys fans who are still mad about the trade.”
#Brown WR Amari Cooper on playing against his former team in a top slot + the trade rumors and the cryptic IG post pic.twitter.com/xhEak2JnJE
– Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) 5 September 2024
“It’s been a couple years,” Cooper said. “I think it probably would have been more emotional if it had happened sooner… At the end of the day, when you’re growing up as a kid and watching football, those are the games you watch. The prime-time games, the games that everyone watches, so naturally those are the games that get the most attention. I’d be lying if I said otherwise.”
Ughhhh. This reserved, professional answer to the question about returning to Dallas is not what Cowboys fans were looking for this morning. People wanted shade and intrigue. They wanted a better answer to that cryptic Instagram post a few weeks ago that hinted at a possible trade from Cleveland.
Maybe Cooper’s return will be easier to accept knowing that CeeDee Lamb is with the Cowboys for the next five years or more? If recent history is any indication, Cowboys wide receivers always stay in Dallas until the end of their contract extensions, so there’s no reason to worry.
In some ways, Cooper has been brutally honest about his return to Dallas. It’s brutal how uninterested he is in making all the drama go up. He even admits that he knows we want sensational stories. Help us help you, Amari. Together, we could do great things.
