Time is running out for star quarterback Dak Prescott to lead the Dallas Cowboys to success. After his 2024 season was cut short due to injury, he will have the opportunity to bounce back going into the 2025 campaign.
However, he would benefit by having a stronger receiving corps to throw the ball to. Aside from CeeDee Lamb, the wide receivers were up and down throughout last year. As a result, it would make sense for the team to pursue a certain player to elevate the position’s ceiling.
Dak Prescott Needs a Pair of Helping Hands
Prescott and the Cowboys sit at a crossroads. With a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer, the feeling of an era change permeates the area in and around the Metroplex. As a result, as an offensive-minded coach, Schottenheimer wants to help the offense.
According to the PSFN’s offense rankings, Dallas ranked 23rd in 2024. Now, in Prescott’s 10th season, employed by an owner that wants to win again, the team needs help. Lamb helped to fulfill his end of the bargain, going for 101 catches for 1,194 yards and six touchdowns. Outside of that, Jalen Tolbert turned 49 receptions into seven touchdowns.
The Cowboys could conceivably reach into their near past to help their 2025 chances of returning to the playoffs and making waves in the postseason. PFSN’s Sterling Xie advocates for the return for Amari Cooper, writing:
“New Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer didn’t overlap with Cooper in Dallas, as he arrived with the organization in 2022 (the year after Cooper’s departure). Still, the familiarity with Prescott would help, as well as Cooper’s 1,250-yard season in 2023, suggests he could still produce in a more stable environment,” he said.
Cooper will enter his 11th season, about three months after his 31st birthday. The fourth pick of the 2015 NFL Draft still has plenty of treats on the metaphorical tires. Cooper enjoyed his best years in Dallas with Prescott throwing him the ball. In 56 games in Texas, the former Alabama star grabbed 292 passes for 3,893 yards and 45 touchdowns, making the Pro Bowl on three occasions.
Now, he could head back to Prescott, who is older, wiser and a bit hungrier than when he left. Prescott, blessed with a monster contract is also burdened by the expectations that it entails. Now, Cooper can right any perceived wrong and help his former quarterback and team ascend to heights not reached in what feels like decades.
Prescott must hear the clock ticking ever so louder. The Cowboys need to bring Cooper back out of desperation. While not pretty, it needs to occur. He needs to give the old crew one more strong concerted run. As Xie pointed out, the familiarity might be the bow on the cake. Catching 68.1% of his passes from Prescott should give the Cowboys all the impetus needed to bring back Cooper.