Receiver Amari Cooper became the first veteran player made available to the media Tuesday by the Dallas Cowboys since they reported to training camp amid the COVID-19 restrictions.
It was also the first time that Cooper has spoken publicly since signing a five-year, $100 million contract extension in March to remain with the team as he promised during the 2019 season, turning down a more lucrative offer from the Washington Redskins.
"I just like everything about being a Dallas Cowboy," said Cooper who has made two consecutive Pro Bowl appearances since being traded to the Cowboys from the Las Vegas Raiders midway through the 2018 season. "Everything we created here and the atmosphere inside the building and outside the building, in the city of Dallas and the surrounding area."
"The opportunity to be on the team I really love, I wouldn't trade that for a little more."
Cooper said he hasn't had much of a chance to talk to head coach Mike McCarthy, though he remembers liking the consistency of the offense from McCarthy's time as coach of the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay Packers receiver DaVante Adams told him he would like the new offense when the two chatted at the Pro Bowl.
Cooper said the offense hasn't changed that much based on what he has gathered in virtual meetings during the off season.
He said the verbiage is different but the plays are pretty much the same or similar.
Cooper is excited about working with first-round draft pick CeeDee Lamb, who is replacing the departed Randall Cobb as the third receiver in the offense behind him and Michael Gallup.
"I think it was a great pickup," Cooper said. "You have to draft the best player on the board. He is a great receiver. The expectation is to have three 1,000-yard receivers."
Cooper and Gallup both topped the 1,000-yard barrier last season. And Cooper likes what he has seen so far from Lamb during some informal workouts before camp.
"I think he is a quick learner," Cooper said. "He already has a good foundation. He is fundamentally sound as a route runner."
Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said on the team's website that he has similar hopes for the receiver corps.
"This receiving corps is going to be something else. I don't think we've seen anything like it," Jones said.
Cooper didn't want to talk about quarterback Dak Prescott not getting a contract extension in the same off season that he got one because he doesn't "speak on other people's contract situations."
But he allowed that the situation didn't stop Prescott from getting in work with all the skill position players over the last couple of months at various fields, including the newly finished one at Prescott's palatial estate in Prosper.
"We've all been getting together pretty consistently for months now," Cooper said. "Working on route running, working on the offense and everything like that. We've been getting a lot of work in, getting that timing right as if we were in mini camp or OTAs."
Although the coronavirus forced Cooper to buy a gym membership to work out because of the shutdown of NFL facilities, he said he feels he is ready to go like any other year and doesn't feel he or the Cowboys will be behind.
"Everybody is on an even playing field, everybody is starting late," Cooper said.
Before ending the interview, Cooper said he hasn't decided if he would kneel during the national anthem as part of the re-started social justice protests in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody in May.
The officers were fired and charged after Floyd's death.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said the league was wrong in how it handled past protests, starting in 2016 with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Cooper didn't participate in the past. The Cowboys have also prohibited their players from protesting, though nose tackle Dontari Poe has said he was considering doing it this year.
When asked specifically about what he planned to do, Cooper said "I'm not sure yet."
