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Trade grades: Cowboys get their WR, Raiders loading up on picks

Tom Pennington / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The NFL's trade-deadline blockbuster came early this year, as the Oakland Raiders shipped Amari Cooper to the receiver-needy Dallas Cowboys in a massive deal for both teams.

Cowboys receive: WR Amari Cooper
Raiders receive: First-round pick in 2019 NFL Draft

Here are our trade grades for this blockbuster move:

Raiders: A

When Jon Gruden and Co. traded Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears in September, it became clear that the Raiders were hitting the reset button and looking toward their future in Las Vegas. This trend continued with Cooper, and Oakland did very well to snatch a first-round pick in the deal.

The Cowboys currently sit at 3-4 with the NFL's 29th-ranked offense. If their scoring unit is unable to turn things around in 2018, the Raiders could be acquiring a top-10 pick in next April's draft. A selection at the end of Day 1 is one thing, but one in the top half of the first round presents excellent value here.

Gruden was never going to pay Cooper top-five receiver money - which would most likely surpass $16 million in average annual value - because the 24-year-old isn't even a top-10 wideout. The former No. 4 overall pick's immense talent was on full display early in his career, opening with two straight 1,000-yard campaigns, but his play has dropped significantly since. Cooper has battled drops, injuries, and mental lapses over the last two years, and Oakland's regime clearly didn't see him as a fit in its future plans. If you're going to rebuild, this is the way to do it.

Cowboys: C+

The deal is a little less clear-cut for the Cowboys. On one hand, quarterback Dak Prescott finally gets the potential No. 1 receiver he so desperately needs. Cooper's struggles are well documented, but perhaps a change of scenery will get him back on track. Dallas will have to pay him eventually (his fifth-year option kicks in next season), but for now, the pass-catcher is under team control through 2019 with a $411,764 cap hit this season. There isn't a wideout with a consensus first-round grade in the upcoming draft, so Jerry Jones addressed his team's biggest need with a proven player rather than a project.

On the other hand, this move carries a significant degree of risk. With issues outside of receiver, the Cowboys are in real danger of missing the postseason. The NFC East is up for grabs, but this move reeks of panic. Cooper isn't going to solve the team's decline in pass protection, he's not going to improve poor safety play, and he's not going to aid a below-average pass rush outside of star defensive end Demarcus Lawrence.

The bottom line is that Cooper probably isn't worth a first-round pick, and he almost certainly isn't worth a potential top-10 selection at this stage of his career. Dallas will have to lock up its new pass-catcher, Prescott, and running back Ezekiel Elliott to mega extensions over the next two years - not an ideal salary-cap quandary. The Cowboys are banking that Monday's blockbuster will help their playoff chances in 2018 and beyond, but the deal could backfire just as easily. Jerry Jones wants to win now, but we aren't sure this will happen with or without Cooper.

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