Dallas Cowboys' 2022 trade with Browns ruled 'easy win' for Cleveland

During the 2022 NFL offseason, the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns struck a deal involving star wide receiver Amari Cooper. The deal sent Cooper and a sixth-round pick to Cleveland and a fifth and sixth-round pick to Dallas in return.

Cooper, who retired just a week before the start of the 2025 campaign after signing with the Las Vegas Raiders, spent two full seasons with the Browns before being traded to the Buffalo Bills in the middle of the 2024 season.

Though he only played just 38 games with Cleveland, Cooper was still a productive player for the franchise, tallying two straight seasons with over 70 catches and 1,000 yards in 2022 and 2023.

With Cooper turning into a solid contributor for the Browns during his short time with the team, ESPN's Bill Barnwell dubbed Cleveland the easy winners of the deal with the Cowboys while grading the trade over three years later.

The Browns did not whiff. Despite erratic quarterback play, Cooper put up 1,160 and 1,250 receiving yards in his two full seasons with Cleveland, earning a Pro Bowl nod for his work in 2023. Things went south quickly in 2024, but Cleveland was still able to salvage a third-round pick from the Bills as part of a midseason trade for the veteran receiver. None of the draft picks involved turned into a significant player.

The Cowboys used the picks acquired in the trade on offensive tackle Matt Waletzko and linebacker Devin Harper, who are no longer on the roster and didn't make much of an impact.

Barnwell's verdict of ruling the Browns as the winners is the correct decision, as Dallas got basically no value back for a Pro Bowl-level player, while Cleveland got steady production from Cooper for two seasons.

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