FRISCO, Texas _ The season-changing trade for Amari Cooper came after a head-shaking loss at Washington that seemed to seal the Dallas Cowboys' fate.
"At that point, we were thinking we might not even be in the playoffs this year," Cowboys' vice president Stephen Jones said. Acquiring Cooper, Jones emphasized, wasn't just about 2018. In fact, at that moment, it was all about the future.
"We were thinking: We're already behind the 8-ball, long shot to get back in it," Jones said. "This is really about long term. But we got back in it. And he helped us get in it."
The Cowboys lost their first game with Cooper, the Monday Night mess to the Titans to drop to a disastrous 3-5. But they regrouped and finished the season going 7-2.
Dallas was trying to trade for Cooper the week before the Redskins loss, Jones said. If they had beaten Washington, Jones said, it was have heated up their desire even more.
"It probably would have made us want to do it all the more," he said. "We got back in it and he helped us get back in it."
Cooper was coveted to help complement Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. Not just for this season, but for the future.
"He's a guy who is going to be there with Zeke and Dak for the next 5, 6, 7 years," Jones said. And as has been pointed, the Cowboys scouting department determined clearly determined there wasn't a draft eligible receiver in Cooper's class coming in this year's draft. That made Dallas' first-round pick expendable.
So far, it has been worth it.
"He's made a big impact in a short period of time," Cowboys' coach Jason Garrett said. "Any time you can add a player like that, not only the plays he makes but the looks he gets other guys, the looks they might get, the opportunity they might get. He's certainly made a big impact on our team the last half of the season."
