Off-season thoughts (Vol. XII)

When word came down Saturday that the Browns had traded for Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper and all it cost them was a fifth-round pick and a swap of sixth-round selections in this year's college draft,  my most immediate thought did not even hint that General Manager Andrew Berry had fleeced the Pokes.

Why when Dallas owner Jerry Jones broadcast that Cooper was available didn't more teams jump at the opportunity to acquire one of the National Football League's top 20 receivers? He's in the prime of his career (28 in June) and still a deep threat.

Other teams on the NFL horizon reportedly expressed interest, but the fact Berry's relatively cheap deal was the best the Cowboys could get tells you more about what other front offices think of Cooper. Has he fallen that much since being the fourth overall pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 2015 lottery?

Is it possible the Amari Cooper who has dazzled with the Cowboys since coming over in a 2018 mid-season trade with the Oakland Raiders is approaching the back end of his career and his dazzling days are over?

Could it be he has been supplanted as the Cowboys' No. 1 receiver by two-year pro CeeDee Lamb, who is a lot cheaper? Makes good business sense and points out the fact Jones severely overcompensated his veteran receiver.

Kind of makes me -- maybe you? -- wonder why Berry's offer was the best the Cowboys could get. The seven-year veteran has a glistening résumé with five 1,000-yard seasons, 7,076 yards and 46 touchdowns, 21 in the last three seasons.

The only possibility is other teams interested in Cooper decided to wait, hoping Jones wasn't satisfied with any offers and would eventually cut him loose, which would have made him a prime candidate on the open market.

Cooper, who automatically becomes the Browns' No. 1 wideout, became available because he made too much money and had to be gone one way or the other to remove the Cowboys from salary-cap hell. His $20 million salary this season strangled them.

He signed a five-year, $100 million contract two years ago and presumably hauls the rest of it along to Cleveland with three years remaining. With a sizable number like that, restructuring the contract is a distinct possibility.

In essence, Cooper will replace Jarvis Landry, who has been given permission by the Browns, according to ESPN, to seek a trade elsewhere, ending his four-year stint in Cleveland. It almost certainly means Berry's first-round target in the college draft later next month will be a wide receiver from a loaded field.

Speculation -- guessing is more like it -- is a defensive lineman is a top priority. The defense, which came on strong in the second half of last season, is not broken, however. The offense is and a wide receiver (two would be nicer) is a much higher priority even with Cooper aboard.

Maybe it will force head coach Kevin Stefanski, whose affection for multiple tight-end sets bogs down the offense, to play more friendly 11 and 21 personnel packages and bring wide receivers back into the offensive game plans.

Cooper has been targeted an average of 117 times a season in his career, Since arriving in Dallas, that average improved to 123 a season. In his two seasons with the Browns, Stefanski has shown a reluctance to throw to wide receivers with his major usage of tight ends.

One of the Browns' major objectives this season was to equip Baker Mayfield with more weapons. Getting Cooper is a good start.