Amari Cooper isn’t bitter toward Cowboys moving on from him, excited for opportunity with Browns

Don’t count on Amari Cooper holding a grudge against the Dallas Cowboys. It’s not happening.

Already traded by a franchise once before in his NFL career, Cooper knows the business side of the NFL all too well. The Cowboys dumped Cooper to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a 2022 fifth-round pick and a swapping of 2022 sixth-round picks, not exactly a hefty amount for a four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver. 

Even though Cooper’s career didn’t end in Dallas they way he wanted, there’s no ill will toward the franchise moving on. 

“I wouldn’t say I just wanted to leave, but at the same time, it’s never personal,” Cooper told reporters Wednesday at Browns minicamp, per USA Today. “It’s just business and that’s part of the business of being in this league. Things like that happen all the time, players get cut, players get traded.

“There’s no player in the league who’s still in the league from 30 years ago. It all comes to an end at some point. With that said, I am excited about this new chapter, and I embrace it. I look forward to the future here.”

Cooper has been a top-10 wide receiver since the Cowboys acquired him in Week 9 of the 2018 season. He has 292 catches for 3,893 yards and 27 touchdowns since being traded to Dallas, ranking seventh in catches and ninth in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in that span. Cooper, who still hasn’t turned 28 yet, is one of six players since the merger with five receiving touchdowns in each of his first seven seasons. He has 7,076 yards before his 28th birthday (which is in June), the ninth-most for any pass catcher in NFL history. 

The Browns know they’re getting a playmaker in Cooper, who will be the No. 1 wide receiver in their new-look offense. 

“Coop has been great. Very responsive to coaching,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Amari, as you know or will know, he is not the loudest guy in the room, but he is very, very thoughtful, very, very intelligent and has been productive really every year he has been in this league. He is a good teammate. 

“Just watching him work in the weight room and seeing him around his teammates, he is a guy who really works hard. He puts in the work. He is not somebody that is skirting around the work in any way.”

Being traded before has made the transition easier for Cooper, who is out to prove his 68 catches for 865 yards last season were more an outlier than the norm. 

“It has been cool coming into a new environment. It feels like being drafted all over again or it feels like the first day of summer workouts in college. A similar type of process,” Cooper said. “I have been in this situation before. It is cool getting to know new people, a new environment and getting to explore a different part of the country that I have never been to. It is cool.”