Report: Cowboys confident in Michael Gallup’s medicals, working on deal worth over $10M per season

This past weekend was full of all sorts of Dallas Cowboys questions. Our break from the week began with reports detailing the what-feels-like-inevitable departure of wide receiver Amari Cooper. The Cowboys can save $16M in salary cap space by moving on from Cooper whether by release or by trade, so it seems like they are planning on going down that route (despite the fact that they have yet to grant Cooper permission to seek a trade).

Assuming Cooper is out means the Cowboys will need help beyond just CeeDee Lamb at the wide receiver position which is where Michael Gallup comes into play. Dallas set up a scenario to choose between Cooper and Gallup when they struck a deal with the former two years ago and it seems like they are set on going down that path.

The Cowboys were reportedly “close” on a deal with him as of Friday although their initial offer was reportedly lower than what the receiver was wanting.

The deal between Michael Gallup and the Cowboys will reportedly exceed $10M per season

You are well-aware that Amari Cooper counts for $22M against the Cowboys this season with $6M already locked in place. The $16M savings is what can be had if the team moves on from him. According to NFL Network, the deal for Gallup is going to exceed $10M per season, and could be for five years.

Also included in the report is that the Cowboys hope to keep Cedrick Wilson in addition to Gallup. If the Cowboys can keep him and Michael Gallup for what it would have cost to keep Cooper then there is at least some logic there. For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Todd Archer detailed on Monday that word around the NFL Combine was that Wilson could net somewhere between $6M and $8M per season.

But again every situation is unique and what makes Gallup’s unique is that he is going to be handed this value coming off of an ACL tear that happened in January. This gives the deal somewhat of a risk, especially in the near term. This year’s draft class is deep at wide receiver so the Cowboys could have chosen to go that route instead of with Gallup.