Jerry Jones' right-hand man hints at Amari Cooper failing to live up to Cowboys' "high expectations"

Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones has taken a shot at wide receiver Amari Cooper. The star wideout was on a mammoth $20 million dollars this season (fourth most in the NFL) and yet his production was seemingly not up to that standard. Cooper finished the season with eight touchdowns (16th). 68 receptions (Tied-38th), 865 receiving yards (34th), averaging 12.7 yards (47th)

Stephen Jones, who is the son of owner Jerry Jones, was talking to reporters at the Senior Bowl and the subject of Cooper came up, with the 57 year old saying that for someone on that amount of money, their on-field numbers should match up too. He also stated that sometimes, a lack of production is not always the receivers fault.

"It sometimes not all on the receiver, It's scheme. It's getting the receiver the ball. It's the targets ... But if you're going to pay somebody a lot of money, you want them to be the best at what they do ... with that comes high expectations."

Could Amari Cooper be on the trade block?

Could Cooper be put up for trade?

That certainly has been a topic that has been brought up recently that Amari could be moved on.The main reason that the 27-year-old receiver could be traded is purely based on the Cowboys salary cap for next season.

As it stands, Dallas is $21,689,885 over the cap for next season. Trading away Cooper would help eleviate that number, but it would mean the Cowboys would lose one of their elite talents in the process.

Stephen Jones further stated that the franchise is going to have to make some tough decisions regarding personnel this offseason and unfortunately, due to the cap, they might not be able to retain some players.

"We're going to have to make some tough decisions," he said. We're not going to be able to keep everybody we'd like to keep. That's part of it. The cap is a real thing."

Just what the Cowboys could get for Cooper remains to be seen, but the receivers' numbers this season have been underwhelming. The 26 year old surpassed the 100-receiving yards mark in a game on just two occasions and was held to under 50 yards an alarmingly-high six times. For a player who commands such a substantial salary, his performances have been nowhere near good enough.

As Jones said, poor production doesn't always fall solely on receivers' shoulders, as schemes and quarterback play all contribute to it as well. However, going by Jones' words, it is clear that the prospect of moving on from their star pass-catcher is definitely on the table.