Amari Cooper's free agency status has been the biggest question surrounding the Dallas Cowboys this off-season. Despite Cooper's status as one of the better wide-outs in the league, the franchise seems to be leaning towards keeping Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb for 2022.

According to this rumor from Sports Illustrated, there's a big reason why the Cowboys want Amari Cooper out: his playoff performance. A league source reported that the management was unhappy with how their star wide receiver did not put enough effort during their Wild Card loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

“The Cowboys don't necessarily think he quit,” the source said, “but … let's just say they found his effort at the end troubling.”

The loss to the 49ers can be attributed to many things (questionable play-calling and lack of discipline being chief among those). Cooper himself had a decent showing for the Cowboys (six receptions for 64 yards, with one touchdown), but it wasn't the performance they expected from their top receiver.

The Cowboys were also reportedly troubled with Cooper's actions when he wasn't the receiver. There were instances of Cooper jogging and giving minimal effort while other receivers made plays.

All in all, the Cowboys are seemingly frustrated with how their season went. They looked like Super Bowl contenders at the beginning of the year, but faltered at the end. Cooper might become the unfortunate scapegoat for their failure last year.

“(The Cowboys) thought they had a team that could go far the playoffs – maybe even to the Super Bowl… But with the season on the line, (Cooper) kind of shrunk. It might sound unfair to judge an entire season by a couple of plays. But in the end for them it was … just very disappointing.”