Wide receiver Amari Cooper skipped the Cleveland Browns’ offseason program hoping to improve his contract situation. In the end, the former Alabama All-American got the guaranteed money he sought for the 2024 season and the opportunity to earn more by meeting incentives. But he didn’t get a contract extension that would keep him in Cleveland past this season.
“I’m content, for sure,” Cooper said on Thursday. “Obviously, I wanted more guarantees in the contract, just because I feel like I’ve earned it. But you can’t always get what you wish for all the time. It’s definitely noted. If I have to go earn it, then that’s what I’ll do. …
“I’m not thinking about it at all. We had some kind of resolve with it, and, at the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m very appreciative. I understand the position that I’m in is a very blessed one, and just moving forward, I’m very optimistic about what I’ll be able to do on the field.”
Cooper was entering the final season of a five-year, $100 million contract after recording a career-high 1,250 yards on 72 receptions, with five touchdowns, in 2023.
Cooper was due $20 million in salary under that deal, but none of that money was guaranteed to be paid before the restructuring.
The Browns got Cooper back in time for training camp by guaranteeing his 2024 pay, now in the form of an $18.79 million signing bonus and $1.21 million base salary.
The contract also includes incentive money, but collecting most of it would be an achievement. Reports indicate Cooper would earn $1 million for making first-team All-Pro, $1 million for reaching 1,251 receiving yards and $500,000 for receiving second-team All-Pro recognition. He would get $4 million if he hits 1,400 receiving yards and the Browns win the Super Bowl LIX.
Although he’s been a Pro Bowl selection five times, Cooper has never made first- or second-team All-Pro, his career high for receiving yards is 1,250 yards and the Browns have never played in the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, Cleveland reduced Cooper’s hit on its salary cap for the 2024 season from $23.776 million to $8.744 million by adding voidable years to his contract that allowed the Browns to prorate his signing bonus over that period.
“Honestly, it wasn’t really about the money,” Cooper said. “That’s why I think people have a misconception about that. It was more so in the language of my contract. I signed a five-year deal with the Cowboys. Only two years were guaranteed. This is the last year of that deal, but it isn’t guaranteed until the week of the first game, and so I was really trying to mitigate the time in which I’d have to be out here practicing and risking injury, so it was more so about the guarantees because you never want to get injured without any guarantees. And in the language of the contract, I could get cut, so it was more so about that.”
When Cooper signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 2020, he had the only $100 million contract among the NFL’s wide receivers. This season, the Las Vegas Raiders’ Davante Adams, Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown and Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill will play on contracts with a total value of more than $100 million.
The $20 million annual average of Cooper’s contract was tied for the 20th highest among the NFL’s wide receivers, and his $20 million pay for 2024 was tied for the 12th-highest among the NFL’s wide receivers.
“I don’t be pocket-watching, so I definitely understand the landscape,” Cooper said. “It was the same thing when I signed my deal. I became, like, one of the top two or three highest-paid receivers. It’s more so the market being fit for the guy at that position at the time. Obviously, it’s going to always go up, so you can’t get your deal and it’s the highest, and then look into the future and say, ‘Nah, I want that, too.’ If you’ve earned it, of course, but I don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, man, he got this much more than me’ and stuff like that.
“I was very much under the impression that I would be extended, so that was one of the reasons I actually pushed so hard for it. But, unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way, and, like I said before, I’m willing to go out there and work and do my thing to go out there and get what I want.”
Cooper said he still hoped to sign an extension that would allow him to complete his career with the Browns.
“This has been nothing but success here in terms of what I’ve been able to do on the field,” Cooper said. “I look to get better each and every year while I’m here. I’m really a guy that takes heed to old sayings. You know, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’m not really trying to go somewhere else. You never know. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. I would rather stay where I’m driving.”
In the two seasons since being traded to Cleveland by the Cowboys, Cooper had 150 receptions for 2,410 yards with 14 touchdowns.
“He’s been pretty good,” Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said on Thursday. “He’s a very productive player, and (general manager) Andrew (Berry)’s talked about this before as well: Amari really fits in with who we are. He works very, very hard. He doesn’t say much. Kind of keeps the focus on the football field. Practices hard. Doesn’t miss games. I know it was rare for him to miss games last season. But he’s been ultra-productive.
“We as an offensive staff love moving Amari around, finding different ways to get him the football. You go into games, and you know teams are saying to keep the ball out of his hands, and he finds a way to get open. He’s big, powerful, so we’re excited that he’s here.”
The Browns are holding training camp at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
“To be honest, holding out was never in the cards,” Cooper said. “I don’t have any experience doing it. I’m kind of a routine kind of guy, and I’m the type of guy I need those reps, so I always knew I was going to be here at training camp, for sure.”
Although Stefanski will continue to call the plays, the Browns have a new offensive coordinator for 2024. Ken Dorsey held that position the past two seasons for the Buffalo Bills. Of the changes made to the Cleveland playbook by the former Miami (Fla.) All-American quarterback, South Florida native Cooper said: “I definitely like them a lot.”
“Ken Dorsey, I’ve been following him since I was a little kid,” Cooper said. “He played for the U, so I’ve been a fan for a long time. …
“It’s some of the stuff that I did in college that I like, without getting into too much information, but I think it will be very beneficial to the receiver group, some of the changes.”
Cleveland kicks off its three-game preseason schedule on Aug 10 against the Green Bay Packers and begins its regular-season slate on Sept. 8 against the Dallas Cowboys.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
