WR · FA · 31 yrs · exp 10 · Alabama
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The Cleveland Browns face a quarterback competition between veteran Deshaun Watson and rookie Shedeur Sanders, while their wide receiver room is also a point of interest with new additions Tylan Wallace, KC Concepcion, and Denzel Boston. The article also touches on past disappointing trades and previews the tight end position for training camp
The Dallas Cowboys head out to training camp in California at the end of this month, and this means that after one week into August, they will have spent a week in Oxnard. That point is important for today’s discussion because we are about to look into that exact spot in the future. Here are three headlines that we predict will emerge from the first week of Cowboys training camp. Something we will likely see when training camp begins is the Cowboys taking things slow with George Pickens . CeeDee Lamb will also likely get a veteran day or two. Ultimately there are going to be more opportunities than normal for a player like Ryan Flournoy, and he has already made it a point to make the most of what he is given to work with. This is the classic sort of headline that emerges from training camp, and if you squint your eyes enough you can even see a world where people are suggeesting trading him away for help elsewhere. Think about the conversations we would have when Lamb, Amari Cooper , and Michael Gallup were frolicking around Oxnard. Obviously the Cowboys have had work sessions since drafting Caleb Downs, but training camp is a different animal. This is where the real and true work begins. It stands to reason that Caleb Downs is going to really announce himself. His presence on the team feels similar to Micah Parsons ’ in that they are both standouts on defense, but Parsons wasn’t exactly who he became during his rookie training camp. In this way Downs feels like someone he shares an alma mater with in Ezekiel Elliott . The world of Cowboys Nation is ready and hungry for Caleb Downs to take center stage, and it stands to reason that we will see this exact phenomenon unfold. It is normal as humans to try and connect dots. We innately want to answer questions. The biggest question on defense right now is who is going to support the team at linebacker. We have been carrying this question for months, and the most significant answer by way of a roster move was the trade for Dee Winters. Training camp is the exact opportunity where that work starts to be shown. Winters will have a legitimate chance to show that he is the proper piece in place for the heart of Christian Parker’s defense, and it would be a common training camp trope (not to say that it wouldn’t be real or legitimate) to hear that he is doing so in a successful way. What headlines do you anticipate seeing after the first week of training camp? Let us know in the comments below
Looking over the Browns’ wide receivers for training camp
Let's start with the obvious question: Will Brandon Aiyuk ever be the same player again? By the time he plays another meaningful NFL snap -- and, for now, the Washington Commanders seem like the favorites to land him -- he'll be 28 and nearly two years removed from the torn ACL and MCL that ended his 2024 season. That's enough to make you wonder if Washington would get the player San Francisco once viewed as its No. 1 receiver. Or would it be the latest iteration of a game-changing talent whose career was altered by a devastating injury? But we might be focusing on the wrong thing: the biggest issue working against Brandon Aiyuk isn't his age; it's the time away from football played at the highest level. If Aiyuk stayed healthy, he'd likely be smack-dab in the middle of his physical peak. Instead, he is attempting to jumpstart a career after a 20-month competitive drought. This is incredibly uncommon in today's NFL. To map out what his road back looks like, we have to separate the biological clock from the injury clock. We tend to lump every ACL recovery into the same bucket. A player tears a knee, rehabs for a year, and comes back. Aiyuk's situation is different; between the injury, rehabilitation and everything surrounding his future, he'll likely go almost two full calendar years without meaningful football. That's an absurdly long time for a skill-position player whose game depends on timing, rhythm and repetition. But to understand the true cost of that missed time, we first have to answer a more basic question: What normally happens to good receivers at 28? I looked at a group of established veterans* whose games have been built as much on route running, separation and technical refinement as pure athleticism. *Historical averages for an established cohort of NFL wide receivers included: Jordy Nelson , Keenan Allen , Robert Woods , Davante Adams , Odell Beckham Jr. , Allen Robinson II, Amari Cooper , Stefon Diggs , Tyler Lockett , Michael Thomas , Cooper Kupp , Chris Godwin , Calvin Ridley , Terry McLaurin . Age Yards per Route Run PFF Route Grade Phase of Career 26 2.11 82.0 Prime years 27 1.92 80.2 Prime years 28 2.05 80.7 ... Still firmly in prime The takeaway: turning 28 does not trigger a sudden athletic-decline tax. Efficiency and grading remain remarkably stable. If Aiyuk fails to return to form, you can't blame the birth certificate; you have to blame the rust. Finding historical precedents for Aiyuk is incredibly difficult because healthy, in-their-prime receivers rarely sit out this long. In fact, after digging through more than 5,500 NFL receiver seasons, I found exactly four modern examples that even came close to Aiyuk's combination of both established production and roughly 20 months away from football. The four presented a mixed bag of warning signs and hope. Jordy Nelson returned from a torn ACL and immediately looked like himself again. Calvin Ridley was away from football for 23 months and topped 1,000 receiving yards, but his layoff stemmed from a mental health leave and an NFL suspension – not a major injury – which complicates comparisons to Aiyuk's situation. Odell Beckham Jr. returned after a 19-month absence following his ACL tear and reinvented himself as an efficient complementary receiver. Michael Thomas came back after nearly 20 months away, only to have another injury cut short what had been an encouraging start to his return. Player Age at Return Time Away Why He Missed Time First Season After Return The takeaway for Aiyuk Jordy Nelson 31 13 months Torn ACL (2015 preseason) 97 rec., 1,257 yds., 14 TD Best-case scenario: returned almost immediately to All-Pro form after a conventional ACL timeline but also missed just 13 months. Calvin Ridley 28 23 months Mental health leave and NFL suspension (not injury) 76 rec., 1,016 yds., 8 TD Best calendar comparison , but without the challenge of returning to form after serious injury. Odell Beckham Jr. 31 [... truncated ...]
It is Day 61 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff. We are looking back at the 100 most iconic games in Dallas Cowboys history. The countdown will leads us right up to the opening game of 2026. Our look back doesn’t depend on just one criteria for our rankings. We take into consideration things like how big the game was for the organization, how memorable the game was, games that had unusual events take place, games that are a part of NFL lore, Cowboys firsts, and games where the Cowboys just plain dominated. Variety is the spice of life and we have all different kind of Cowboys games to review. At the bottom, we’ll link each day of the countdown so you can go back and check out any you missed. Here we go for Day 61 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff, when we revisit one of the defining games of the Amari Cooper era. The Cowboys had traded a first-round pick to Oakland for Cooper in October, a move that was questioned heavily at the time. By early December, nobody in Dallas was questioning it anymore. Against the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, Cooper delivered one of the great receiver performances in franchise history and walked off Philadelphia in overtime. For much of the afternoon, this did not look like a shootout. The first half was all field goals, with Brett Maher giving Dallas a 6-0 halftime lead. The Cowboys moved the ball, but penalties, turnovers, and red-zone issues kept the Eagles alive. Maher’s biggest swing came right before halftime, when he drilled a 62-yard field goal, setting a Cowboys franchise record at the time. The game finally opened up in the second half. Philadelphia tied it at 9-9, but Prescott and Cooper started taking over late. In the fourth quarter, Prescott found Cooper for a 28-yard touchdown to put Dallas ahead 16-9. The Eagles answered to tie it, and then Dallas hit the explosive play that made Cooper look worth every bit of the trade cost. On the first play of the Cowboys’ next possession, Prescott found Cooper down the right sideline for a 75-yard touchdown, giving Dallas a 23-16 lead. Philadelphia still would not go quietly. Carson Wentz answered with a late touchdown drive, eventually tying the game 23-23 and forcing overtime. The Eagles had shown plenty of fight, but the extra period belonged to Dallas. Prescott marched the Cowboys downfield on the opening possession, and on the final play, he threw once more to Cooper. Eagles corner Rasul Douglas tipped the pass, but the ball bounced right into Cooper’s hands near the 7-yard line. Cooper gathered it, walked into the end zone, and AT&T Stadium erupted. Cooper’s final line was ridiculous with 10 catches, 217 yards, and three touchdowns. He had the 28-yard go-ahead score, the 75-yard lightning strike, and the overtime winner off the deflection. Ezekiel Elliott was just as important to the shape of the game, rushing for 114 yards on 28 carries while adding 79 receiving yards on 12 catches. This game belongs on the countdown because it was the moment Cooper’s arrival fully transformed the 2018 season. Dallas had started 3-5, then won five straight after the Monday night loss to Tennessee , and this overtime win effectively gave the Cowboys control of the NFC East. It was a rivalry game, a playoff-race game, a revenge game against the defending champions, and a signature moment for one of the best midseason trades in franchise history. . Amari Cooper’s 217 receiving yards were a career high, and his three touchdowns all came after halftime. Countdown To Kickoff by day: 1 00 , 99 , 98 , 97 , 96 , 95 , 94 , 93 , 92 , 91 , 90 , 89 , 88 , 87 , 86 , 85 , 84 , 83 , 82 , 81 , 80 , 79 , 78 , 77 , 76 , 75 , 74 , 73 , 72 , 71 , 70 , 69 , 68 , 67 , 66 , 65 , 64 , 63 , 62
The Buffalo Bills are evaluating wide receiver Jalen Virgil as part of their "91 players in 91 days" series. Virgil, 27, signed a one-year, $1.075 million deal with the Bills on February 10, 2026. He spent the 2025 offseason and training camp with Buffalo but suffered a hamstring injury, leading to his release with an injury settlement. He later spent time on the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad
It’s not often that your franchise wide receiver is one of the least-talked about guys on the roster, but that’s been CeeDee Lamb ’s offseason. As his fellow starter and even the backup have been getting a lot of attention, Lamb’s been almost taken for granted as a returning superstar in the Cowboys offense. Years in NFL: 6 Acquired by: 2020 1st-round pick It’s a tale most Cowboys fans already know well. In 2020, the Cowboys already had Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup as a solid starting duo of receiver. But when Lamb, generally considered a top-10 talent, fell to them at the 17th pick, it was too much value to turn down. Dallas scooped Lamb up, likely preventing him from becoming an Eagle within the next few picks. Lamb, Cooper, and Gallup formed a three-headed monster, each getting over 100 targets on the season. But with Mike McCarthy replacing Jason Garrett, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team wasn’t in great shape to take advantage of its strength at receiver. The team was 1-3 even before Dak Prescott ’s major leg injury, then there was only so much Kellen Moore’s offense could do to counter a terrible defensive year. Lamb still had a great rookie season with 935 yards and five touchdowns, but the best was yet to come. In 2021, Lamb began several streaks that remain in effect to this day. It was his first 1,000-yard season, his first trip to the Pro Bowl, and his first year as Dallas’ top receiver. His ascension to franchise status was a factor in Cooper being traded away the following offseason. In 2023, Lamb would earn a First-Team All-Pro nod as the NFL receptions leader, also breaking Dallas single-season records for receptions and receiving touchdowns that Michael Irvin had held since 1995. While he’s missed a couple of games each of the last two years, and played hurt through others, Lamb has never relinquished his top spot in the offense. George Pickens is the only Dallas WR to even come close to challenging him, but that debate will continue into next year. What a nice problem for the Cowboys to have! Years Left: 3 2026 Cap Hit: $19.7 million Lamb’s cap hit is well below his average annual salary of $34 million thanks to restructuring and void years. As such, the dead money against his contract makes him almost uncuttable through 2027 and perhaps even the final year. Thankfully, he’ll only be 29 in 2028, so there’s plenty of optimism for Lamb remaining a potent offensive weapon for the duration of the contract. Role: Starting WR Roster Chance: 100% Well, this one’s easy. Lamb will be right back in his usual spot as a favorite weapon for Dak Prescott. While fans and media may clamor over who is Dallas’ top receiver between him and Pickens, the players don’t seem remotely concerned about it. Both guys can eat in this high-volume offense, with plenty left on the table for Jake Ferguson , Ryan Flournoy , and others. Even if Pickens does remain the Cowboys’ most productive receiver in 2026, Lamb’s going to be fine. He’s got his money, and seems to be one of Pickens’ number-one fans on the roster. He and Prescott have both done a great job of helping Pickens feel welcomed in Dallas after leaving a rough situation in Pittsburgh , and continue to express support during this offseason’s contract issues. It’s good to have guys you can count on, and especially when they’re also among the elite players at key positions. CeeDee Lamb was a gift in 2020 and has kept on giving ever since. There’s no reason to think that will change this year. Check out our previous player profiles from this series: RB Israel Abanikanda | S Justin Barron | G T.J. Bass | C Cooper Beebe | CB DaRon Bland | G Tyler Booker | CB Josh Butler | S Alijah Clark | OT Ajani Cornelius | RB Malik Davis | DT Tommy Dunn | CB Cobie Durant | OLB Donovan Ezeiruaku | TE Princeton Fant | TE Jake Ferguson | WR Ryan Flournoy | C Matt Hennessy | S Malik Hooker | OLB James Houston | QB Sam Howell | WR Jordan Hudson | LB Shemar James | G Trev [... truncated ...]
The idea of bold predictions is so interesting. We step out on a limp and try to forecast something that feels impossible on most levels, but few of them leave it slightly within range if we squint our eyes. Today we are going to be talking about bold predictions that feel bold now, but later on down the road it might feel plain and obvious. These things tend to happen over time. Imagine if, for example, someone had said that rookie Ezekiel Elliott would lead the league in rushing while the Dallas Cowboys took home the top seed in the NFC. That was a decade ago and a lot has changed, but you get the idea. Let’s begin. This is an interesting year for the Cowboys offense. Opposing teams are obviously aware of how potent the group was last season, and it stands to reason that George Pickens may receive more attention on a game-by-game basis than he did in his inaugural season with the team. Still though he has proven to be an extremely dangerous threat opposite of CeeDee Lamb , and considering that Ryan Flournoy presents as a very serviceable third option, there are plenty of players to guard on defense. This feels similar to 2021 when the Cowboys had a tried and true trio of Lamb, Amari Cooper , and Michael Gallup . We never really got to see the three of them shine on a game-by-game basis for a variety of reasons, but the composition of everything led to the emergence of Dalton Schultz . That season was the first of consecutive ones where Schultz averaged double-digits per reception. Jake Ferguson has already done this in a season, incidentally the first that Schultz was gone, back in 2023 when Dak Prescott finished second in MVP voting. Circumstances around Ferguson feel similar to what they did around Schultz a handful of years ago, and he may be the most primary beneficiary of all of the other players that opponents have to deal with. This one may be me trying to manifest more than any other. Shavon Revel entered a really volatile situation from an overall perspective last year. He was a highly-touted draft prospect, but given that he was coming off of a torn ACL and that dampened his overall ceiling for his rookie year. Factor in that the Cowboys were still going at things with Trevon Diggs as a part of their plan in the secondary, and that the defense as a whole was so poorly constructed, it was difficult for anybody to properly thrive. An argument can be made that time has allowed for a proper settling for Revel in general, but that the Cowboys doing so as a unit has been helpful in parallel. This is the time when Revel has to remind everyone why there was such high belief around him last year. He is going to have every opportunity in the world to earn a starting job, and you could argue that the only real player ahead of him in the cornerback room at large is DaRon Bland which is a shaky proposition in its own right. Again, this is something that kind of has to happen for the Cowboys to take the next step. It just feels like it might off of the number of opportunities alone. Javonte Williams is well-entrenched as the Cowboys’ primary running back. Williams will get all of the traditional workhorse opportunities in a Schottenheimer sort of offense, one that Brian proved he was able to run along the lines of the NFL’s famed Marty Ball version that his father deployed. In today’s league though, you need to have a number of available options out of the backfield. There are a lot of people wish-casting (as I did with Revel above) that Jaydon Blue could be that player; we are not even a year removed from the coaching staff not exactly trusting him. Things can change, but there is a lot to overcome there. Plus, Phil Mafah represents the type of running that can close out games when matters are close and tough in the fourth quarter. He can help ice games away after the Cowboys offense has done work (with Jake Ferguson averaging 10 yards per reception, obviously!). What are some bold preditions you have that you thi [... truncated ...]
We have known the 2026 Dallas Cowboys schedule for some time now, long enough to draw legitimate pros and cons from what it has in store for the team. Looking forward is a lot of fun. Everything is unknown. The possibilities are endless. Anything is possible. Looking backwards isn’t representative of anything necessarily. It can be helpful and offer some sense of guidance, but who anybody was in the past is in no way representative of who they will be in the future. In the interest of discussion, today we are looking at how the Cowboys fared against each of their opponents last time they faced them. For the record we are going to be specific here. By that I mean that if the Cowboys are hosting or visiting a team then the result listed will be the last time they hosted or visited the team in question. As an example the Cowboys will visit the Houston Texans in 2026, so for the purposes of this conversation we are interested in when they did so back in 2018 and not when they last hosted them in 2024. at NYG (Loss, 34-17): This was the final game of the regular season last year when both teams were mathematically eliminated. It marked Dak Prescott’s first loss, it does count in a technical sense, against the Giants since his rookie season. WAS (Win, 44-22): Last season was a disaster on many levels, but this was certainly a bright spot. BAL (Loss, 28-25): The Ravens visited the Cowboys early in 2024 and Derrick Henry , fresh into his Ravens tenure, absolutely destroyed the Cowboys and all of the narratives around Dallas not being interested in him the offseason prior were thrust center stage. at HOU (Loss, 19-16): This happened early in the 2018 season and was played on a Sunday night. Dallas and Houston actually went to overtime and DeAndre Hopkins had his way with the defense. Many thought it might mark the end of the Jason Garrett era, but the Amari Cooper trade shortly after saved the season. TB (Win, 26-24): Dallas hosted the Buccaneers on a Sunday night late in 2024. The win helped keep very slim hope alive that the season could be salvaged, but as we know it certainly could not. at GB (Loss, 31-28): It has been four years since the Cowboys last visited Lambeau Field and the last time they did was wild as it marked Mike McCarthy’s return there. This time will mark a visit against Micah Parsons … somehow there are always narratives between these two groups. at PHI (Loss, 24-20): This was the season-opener last year when the Cowboys gave it all they had and just couldn’t grab the win. ARI (Loss, 27-17): It felt much worse than this when the Cardinals destroyed the Cowboys on a Monday night right before the bye last season. at IND (Loss, 23-0): The Cowboys were putting things together late in 2018 and then got skunked in Indianapolis . I was actually at this game. They turned it around and won the NFC East a week later, though. SF (Loss, 23-17 in Wild Card Round): This is the only playoff game on this list, but it was the last time that the 49ers were in town. Jimmy Garoppolo . The quarterback draw. Good times. TEN (Loss, 28-14): This was a unique game as it marked a lot of things. It was Amari Cooper’s debut with the team, but it took place on a Monday night in 2018 which meant that Jason Witten was on the call. PHI (Win, 24-21): Who could forget the Eagles blowing a 21-0 lead? at SEA (Loss, 38-31): The last Dallas visit to Seattle was in 2020 when the Cowboys offense did all they could and the horrible defense just let them down. Brian Schottenheimer was there, by the way! Just on the Seattle side of things. at LAR (Win, 22-10): The Cowboys went to Los Angeles to play the Rams early in 2022 and did so with Dak Prescott sidelined. It was one of the more impressive wins of the Mike McCarthy era as it showed how the team could rally around Cooper Rush . JAX (Win, 40-7): This happened early in 2018 and came before the Amari Cooper trade. Dallas exploded on offense (obviously), so much so that Tyrone Crawford sa [... truncated ...]
The Buffalo Bills traded for wide receiver Amari Cooper at the 2024 NFL trade deadline. It feels like forever ago, and in a lot of ways it was. Cooper didn’t play great in Buffalo, but he still had a little gas in the tank. Cooper was out of the NFL in 2025 after retiring from the Las Vegas Raiders . He signed in Vegas after his contract with the Bills expired. Now that the trade is completely in the books, it’s time to look back on the deal. Browns receive: 2025 third-round pick, 2026 seventh-round pick Bills receive: Amari Cooper, 2025 sixth-round pick Cooper left Buffalo after just eight games, catching 20 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. He played in three playoff games adding six more catched for just 41 yards. Buffalo received a 2025 sixth-round selection in addition to Cooper. The Bills flipped that as part of the trade that sent Kaiir Elam to the Dallas Cowboys . The Bills got pick 170 in the fifth round of 2025 in exchange for the sixth-rounder and Elam. They selected Jordan Hancock with the selection. The Browns received a third-round selection which settled at 94 overall when the draft order was announced in 2025. The Browns selected a potential quarterback of the future in Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel , but that is very much in doubt in a crowded room under a new head coach now. The pick the Browns received ended up at 242. Cleveland traded the pick from the Amari Cooper trade during August 2025. The Jets sent pick 182 to the Browns in exchange for 242 and DT Jowon Briggs . The Browns then sent pick 182 and Greg Newsome to the Jaguars for Tyson Campbell and pick 239 in October. The pick ended up being used by the Seattle Seahawks on DT Deven Eastern after it was traded by the Jets. I think both teams may have fared pretty equally here, with low return on investment. The more interesting thing to look at might be the players the Bills passed on. Atlanta Falcons safety Xavier Watts when a couple picks after the Browns picked Gabriel and would look good in the Bills’ secondary next to Cole Bishop . Titans WR Chimere Dike and Browns QB Shedeur Sanders (insert joke here) were picked after the Bills’ slot and made the Pro Bowl
Drops: Amari Cooper
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Data comes from cached Sleeper and KTC snapshots. Values update when the sync jobs run.
