A Chicago Bears mock draft should the team sign a guy like Amari Cooper
Reports broke today that Amari Cooper could be released by the Dallas Cowboys due to salary cap restraints. Cooper is set to make $22 million this season and his salary becomes fully guaranteed on March 20, 2022. Should the Cowboys release him as reported, the team would save $16 million dollars. The Cowboys are currently $21 million dollars over the cap and will need to free up some space heading into the 2022 NFL season. Releasing Amari Cooper will not be their only move, but it seems to be the most logical.
Now, Amari Cooper is going to have his pick of teams and he’s also a 27-year-old wide receiver who has proven to be a top receiving threat in the NFL. He was selected fourth overall in the 2015 NFL Draft. The same draft that I was hoping the then Oakland Raiders would take Kevin White instead of Cooper, leaving Cooper to fall to the Chicago Bears at seven. Things did not work out that way, but maybe Cooper was destined to be a part of the Chicago Bears after all?
Signing a wide receiver like Amari Cooper opens the door for the Chicago Bears
The problem here is that I don’t envision Amari Cooper wanting to play in Chicago. The Bears are in somewhat of a rebuilding phase and unless Ryan Poles throws a Brinks truck at Cooper (that won’t happen), I just don’t see this pairing working out. The one benefit to signing Amari Cooper over some of the other unrestricted free agents is that he doesn’t count against the compensatory draft pick formula. Only scheduled unrestricted free agents would count.
Although, I think this team has too many holes to fill in free agency to find themselves landing many if any compensatory picks. Signing a player like Amari Cooper or Jarvis Landry if he is also released could help ensure they land at least something from the compensatory formula. Again, there are no guarantees though. I decided to do another mock draft, but this time with a focus on how to attack the draft should the Chicago Bears land a free agent wide receiver who can be that top option. For this mock draft, I used Pro Football Network’s mock draft simulator.