Omar Cooper Jr. #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers will meet with the Dallas Cowboys before the NFL draft.
Getty
Omar Cooper Jr. #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers will meet with the Dallas Cowboys before the NFL draft.
As part of the process leading into next month’s NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys can arrange to meet with up to 30 prospects on a face-to-face basis, in hopes of getting a chance to better know them outside the hectic confines of last month’s NFL draft combine in Indianapolis. While they’re expected to focus heavily on defense in this draft, the Cowboys–who have put the franchise tag on George Pickens and are negotiating a new contract for him–are pulling something of a surprise. They’re using one of their Top 30 visits on Indiana star receiver Omar Cooper.
That’s according to reporter Ryan Fowler of “Commanding the Huddle,” who wrote on Twitter/X: “Source: The Dallas Cowboys will host Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr for a 30 visit. One of the premier wideouts in the class.”
There is good sense in meeting with as many players as you can as a team with two first-round picks, which the Cowboys have at No. 12 and 20. But Dallas is stacked at receiver, with CeeDee Lamb, Pickens and emerging youngster Ryan Flournoy. The meeting with Cooper, then, is a curious one.
George Pickens Situation Remains Unsettled
There has been speculation, and the Cowboys have denied it, that the team could look to trade Pickens if they can’t come to an agreement on a long-term deal. It is one of the possible outcomes of a franchise-tag situation, though it is rare–a tag-and-trade would allow the Cowboys to get back top-shelf draft compensation and let the headache of working out a new contract for Pickens fall to someone else.
But after a season in which Pickens had a breakout performance, with 1,429 yards–third in the NFL–on 93 catches, Dallas has been talking up the possibility of a Pickens-Lamb redux this year, with a revamped defense on the other side to give the Cowboys a chance to truly contend.
Still, Pickens feels he should be paid among the top receivers in the NFL, which means more than $30 million per year over a long-term deal. The current tag deal is one year, $28 million. If the Cowboys don’t budge on that, Pickens likely will be a holdout and add unwanted drama to the Dallas offseason.
George Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys
GettyGeorge Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys
Omar Cooper Only Makes Cowboys Sense If Pickens Leaves
Maybe meeting with Cooper, who had 69 catches and 937 yards, with 13 touchdowns for the CFB champion Hoosiers, is just a team using up its 30 visits and wanting to have a look at one of the risers on the board. But maybe there is more to it–maybe the Cowboys are not so sure they will have Pickens with the team in 2026 after all, and that they will need to be prepared to draft a potential WR2 this year.
Again, the Cowboys have picks No. 12 and 20, but do not have a second-round pick after having sent it out to the Jets in the Quinnen Williams trade. It’s possible they could trade down and be in position to pick Cooper–projected to be a late first-rounder–as a hedge against needing to trade Pickens.
But Dallas has so many needs on defense–linebacker, cornerback–that, unless Pickens is, in fact, traded, picking Cooper would seem highly unlikely.