Should new Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper wear number 88?

The Dallas Cowboys have themselves a number one receiver. After agreeing to give a 2019 first-round draft pick to the Oakland Raiders, fourth-year pass catcher Amari Cooper is coming to Dallas. The former Alabama star was fast out of the gate, eclipsing the 1,000 yards mark in each of his first two seasons. He’s going to give this team a much needed boost at the wide receiver position after the current receiving group experiment has been rather underwhelming. Cooper is a talented player at a position of need for the Cowboys so it’s a perfect fit. Welcome to Dallas, no. 89.

89? Wait, Cowboys tight end Blake Jarwin actually wears 89. Is it possible Cooper will offer Jarwin some type of monetary compensation so he can keep his original number? That’s a pretty common occurrence whenever a star player joins another team where another player already has that number.

Or maybe Cooper will opt to make a change and go with something else? Allen Hurns wore 88 while in Jacksonville, but chose the number 17 when he came to Dallas. After the release of Dez Bryant, the number 88 was available, but Hurns chose his new number as a tribute to others and stuck with it.

Typically, the number 88 is sacred. Only special wide receivers don that number in Dallas. That’s not a hard rule or anything, but it’s sorta an unwritten understanding. Super Bowl champion Drew Pearson wore it. Three-time Super Bowl Champ and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin wore it. And of course, the Cowboys all-time leader in touchdown catches, Dez Bryant, also wore it. Like I said, it’s reserved for special players.

But is Amari Cooper a special player? He was taken fourth overall in the 2015 NFL Draft so he was thought to be pretty special a few years ago. When Michael Irvin was taken 11th overall in the 1988 Draft, expectations were high for the Miami star receiver. The same can be said for Dez Bryant when the Cowboys moved up to pick 24 to select him in 2010. But aren’t expectations pretty high for Cooper as well? Dallas gave up some hefty draft capital to acquire Cooper. And when you take into account how well the Cowboys have been drafting in the first round, that’s a testament to how much they covet a talent like Cooper.

Cooper is a great separator and the team is doing everything they can to put the right pieces around their young quarterback so he can be successful. A player like Cooper is a big piece.

All it takes is talent and hope to justify wearing one of the sacred numbers in Dallas. Randy Gregory is wearing no. 94, which has been worn by Hall of Fame defensive end Charles Haley and soon-to-be Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware.

Cooper has the talent and he brings this Cowboys team hope. It wasn’t that long ago when the trio of Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray, and Dez Bryant made up their new “triplets” that were supposed to lead this team to the Super Bowl. Well, that never happened. The “triplets” have since been remodeled and now consist of Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, and Amari Cooper. All three of them were Pro Bowlers in 2016. And they are 25, 23, and 24 years old respectively. The youth movement is a live and well in Dallas and now they have a fresh new receiver to go along with these other offensive playmakers.