It didn’t take long for that contract to look rather attractive for those balancing cap sheets. Cooper’s deal currently pays him an average of $20 million per year, which is tied for the 20th-highest average annual salary at the position in the NFL.
Cooper finished fifth in receiving yards (1,250) in the league last season, a total he posted while playing with five different starting quarterbacks. He turns 30 in six days, and he’ll never be positioned better to cash in on his remaining earning power than right now.
With this in mind, a few days of fines are worth the temporary loss.
It is worth noting Cooper was in attendance for Cleveland’s OTAs prior to starting his mandatory minicamp holdout. He’s clearly digging into a negotiating position in order to capitalize financially while the iron is still hot.
The Browns currently have $13.7 million in available cap space, according to Over The Cap, and could use that to their advantage with an adjusted deal, or push out additional expenses into future years via an extension. We’ll see if they can arrive at a compromise before training camp.