FRISCO, Texas — Amari Cooper drops into the leather seat at his walnut locker, angles left and faces Cowboys teammate Chidobe Awuzie. An orange and beige chessboard rests between them, the next match awaiting its opening moves.

“We can do it now,” says Cooper, confident an interview would not impede his ability to defeat Awuzie. Ten minutes later, Cooper is proved correct.

For Cooper, the final day of Dallas' OTAs encapsulated much of what has gone right since his October trade from Oakland. He caught a 35-yard deep ball from Dak Prescott down the left sideline during the team-drill segment of the team's last voluntary practice of the spring. He’s refining concepts old and new with coaches and teammates during his first offseason installation as a Cowboy.

A contract extension awaits, though Cooper doesn't want to discuss negotiations. His 2019 deal scheduled to balloon more than thirty-fold to nearly $14 million, he would rather focus on what he can control — including his pawn's next move, which foreshadows a checkmate of Awuzie less than two minutes later.

It's hardly the first time he's outclassed a cornerback.

Cooper began preying on defensive backs in the Dallas locker room last season. Sometimes, he'll ask one he’s just beaten on a route in practice, "You ready?” before they re-engage in a chess battle. Teammates say Cooper is the most skilled of the five Cowboys players who now joke they have a chess club. Awuzie says he isn’t losing as much as he did in the fall. Still, he has only bested Cooper 13 times in 60 attempts.

Cooper says he learned chess in second or third grade. "But I didn’t really take it seriously,” he told USA TODAY Sports, “because where I’m from, you play sports. That’s what you play.”

‘He learns your weaknesses on the fly’

While at the University of Alabama, Cooper learned he didn't have to choose between football and his hobbies. Naturally, he’s fully committed to elevating his game in pursuit of a Super Bowl. But he reconnected with chess in college, spent three weeks learning to solve a Rubik's Cube while with the Raiders and is currently teaching himself Spanish.

“That makes me be consistent and persistent to learn them,” Cooper said. “I’m practicing being great at things you can’t do overnight.”

Cooper uses the same mental acumen he flexes to master Rubik’s Cube algorithms or anticipate an opponent’s chess move to outwit defenders — decoding coverage schemes by analyzing how a DB is angling his hips or directing his hands. Cooper then chooses which route to run accordingly.

“With my position, you have to kind of be three steps ahead of your opponent,” Cooper says. “He might think you’re going to hit him with something you hit him with earlier, but you’re really going to hit him with something different.”

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John Fulton, Cooper’s teammate and chess opponent in Tuscaloosa, witnessed his knack for anticipation. The two became friends after Cooper, a freshman at the time, embarrassed then-junior Fulton during a completion in practice. Fulton soon considered Cooper much more than just a crisp route runner with speed and separation.

“He learns your weaknesses on the fly,” Fulton told USA TODAY Sports, “adapts to them and makes you look silly all night long.”

That sharp processing for the Crimson Tide and in three-plus seasons with the Raiders needed little time to surface when Cooper joined the Cowboys at last season's trade deadline. He worked with receivers coach Sanjay Lal during the bye week, when Dallas made the trade, and stepped right into the lineup to snare five of eight targets for 58 yards and a touchdown during his Cowboys debut Nov. 5 — just seven days after the trade news broke. By year’s end, Cooper had racked up 53 catches for 725 yards and six scores in nine regular-season games with his new club.

Credit Cooper's “incredible feel” for the defense’s intentions, linebacker Sean Lee told USA TODAY Sports.

“He stresses you so much with his ability,” Lee said. “There’s no margin for error with him. You saw last year: A guy slips and it’s a touchdown.”

Next moves

Cowboys brass was pleased with Cooper’s 2018 introduction and production. Club executives reiterated through this spring’s draft that, after watching Cooper's film, they didn’t regret spending the first-round selection they dealt for the three-time Pro Bowler.

But Cooper, who turns 25 on June 18, isn't content. He believes he has "untapped potential" and is using his first offseason in Dallas to try and unleash it. Cooper switched seats in offensive meetings to sit directly next to Prescott. When first-year offensive coordinator Kellen Moore leads installation sessions, Cooper and Prescott discuss immediately the nuances of executing a particular route or play. Don’t worry if I take this release against press, Cooper tells Prescott, for example, because I’ll end up outside the defender and win.

“Real-world examples,” Lal told USA TODAY Sports. “Instead of just the picture that’s being presented."

In addition to focusing on the finer points of beating coverage, Cooper is also focused on becoming more of a threat in the red zone. The Cowboys ranked 26th in touchdown production (51.8%) inside the 20-yard line last season.

Since he was drafted fourth overall in 2015, Cooper has heard the knocks on his ability to attack the ball at its highest point. But just because he often runs himself open doesn’t mean he can’t catch in traffic, he claims. On one play in last Wednesday's team drills, Cooper ran full speed toward the end zone, cornerback Jourdan Lewis in tow. Cooper leaned into Lewis and reached over the corner's outstretched hand to snag a touchdown.

“The way (people) perceive my game, I’m always open because I have good routes,” Cooper said. “But I’m also really good at going up and attacking the ball when someone is right on me. I practice that a lot as well, it just doesn’t really show up because eight times out of 10, I’m open when I catch the ball.

“I think I can add that dimension to my game if they give me the opportunity to catch fade balls down there.”

Meanwhile, he continues to add new dimensions on the hobby front.

His quest for a good chess match spans from all corners of the locker room to iPhone contests against Fulton to games against a computerized chessboard in his home. Cooper went through two Spanish-learning apps before finding a third he says is allowing him to pick up the language more easily. And during a recent trip to Barnes & Noble, he spotted a four-by-four Rubik’s Cube, which he's waiting to pick the right day to master. He doesn't even need three minutes to solve the standard three-by-three version nowadays.

“He’s a silent killer," Lewis said, "trying to perfect his craft every day.

“He’s out there calculating.”

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Follow Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein

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