FRISCO, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper has been fined $14,650 by the NFL for violating the COVID-19 protocols for unvaccinated players by attending a Dallas Mavericks game last week and not wearing a mask, a source told ESPN on Thursday.
Prior to attending the Mavericks game, Cooper was on the sideline at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, cheering on Alabama against Cincinnati. Cooper was with teammates CeeDee Lamb (Mavericks) and Trevon Diggs (Cotton Bowl), but since they have been vaccinated, they do not have the same restrictions and were not fined.
An unvaccinated player can attend a sporting event but must sit in a luxury suite with a mask and not be surrounded by more than 10 people. Cooper was sitting courtside at the Mavericks game.
After the regular-season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, Cooper was asked about being more careful about interactions, with the postseason beginning.
"You don't want to get sick. This is the tournament. We train so hard in the offseason, OTAs, camp, to get to this point. We accomplished that goal thus far," Cooper said. "We're going to do everything we can do to not get sick. If that means isolation, then that's what that means. Hopefully we can isolate enough to not catch it."
Cooper missed two games earlier this season after testing positive for COVID-19, and the Cowboys lost contests against the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders. Since he had COVID-19, Cooper would not fall in the daily testing protocol through Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13.
The NFL and NFL Players Association adopted new testing policies in December in which players will not be tested unless they show symptoms or are chosen at random, similar to how the league runs its drug policy.
