Report: Michael Gallup, Cowboys Agree to 5-Year, $62.5M Contract After Cooper Trade

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

The Dallas Cowboys are bringing back wide receiver Michael Gallup in 2022.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Gallup and the Cowboys agreed to a five-year, $62.5 million deal on Sunday.

Gallup has been with the Cowboys since being selected in the third round of the 2018 NFL draft, and bringing him back is all the more important after the team traded Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns.

Prior to 2021, Gallup looked like he was an essential part of the Cowboys offense. He racked up 1,950 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in 30 games from 2019 to 2020.

Despite that success, there were some indications going into last season that 2021 would be his final year with the Cowboys.

Executive vice president Stephen Jones told ESPN’s Todd Archer in October the team’s salary-cap situation was going to be something it had to figure out during the offseason.

“It was always going to be hard to speculate what the cap’s going to be until we got through a full season of normal capacities or just normalcy away from the pandemic,” Jones said. “We’ll start to have a better feel going forward how we manage and project out the salary cap.”

Per Spotrac, the Cowboys were $21.3 million over the cap before the offseason began with Dak Prescott, DeMarcus Lawrence, Cooper and Zack Martin having cap hits over $20 million.

Schefter reported on March 4 that Cooper would “likely” be released by the Cowboys before the start of the league year on March 16, which would have freed up $16 million in cap space for the front office. 

However, the team elected to trade him.

Gallup had a frustrating 2021 season with the Cowboys because of injuries. He missed seven games after suffering a calf injury in Week 1.

During the Cowboys’ Week 17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Gallup suffered a torn ACL on his 21-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.

When he was healthy enough to play last season, Gallup often got lost in the shuffle because the Cowboys had so many offensive playmakers. The Colorado State alum set career lows in targets (62) and receiving yards (445) last season.

As long as Gallup’s recovery from the knee injury goes according to plan, he should have no problem getting back on track with an offense he knows very well.

The Cowboys remain stacked as they look to build on last season’s NFC East title.