Dallas Cowboys trade first-round pick to Oakland Raiders for Amari Cooper

4:11 PM ET

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys made a move to benefit Dak Prescott by acquiring wide receiver Amari Cooper from the Oakland Raiders for a 2019 first-round pick.

Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie confirmed the trade Monday. Oakland will now have three first-round picks in 2019 after also getting the Chicago Bears' selection in last month's Khalil Mack trade.

Cooper, the fourth overall pick in the 2015 draft, has 22 catches for 280 yards and a touchdown in six games this season. He opened his career with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and made the Pro Bowl twice, but his numbers have fallen the past two years.

The 3-4 Cowboys had been doing their due diligence on receivers leading into the trade deadline and had zeroed in on Cooper, who became available in recent weeks with the 1-5 Raiders' poor start in Jon Gruden's first season.

The Cowboys entered the season hoping a committee of receivers could make up the production the offense lost when Dez Bryant was traded in the offseason. They attempted to sign Sammy Watkins in free agency, but he opted to join the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys added veterans Allen Hurns and Deonte Thompson and drafted Michael Gallup in the third round to a group that included Cole Beasley and Terrance Williams.

The Cowboys signed veteran Brice Butler on Sept. 18 and placed Williams on injured reserve with a foot injury on Oct. 6. Last week, Williams was suspended for three games for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

The passing game has struggled for most of the season, ranking 28th in the NFL. Beasley leads the Cowboys with 33 catches for 350 yards and two touchdowns. No other receiver has more than 13 catches for the season.

Gallup caught a 49-yard touchdown pass in Sunday's loss to Washington and has 10 catches for 190 yards. Hurns has 13 catches for 158 yards and had his most productive game of the season against the Redskins with five catches for 74 yards.

Austin has been the big-play threat with seven catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns but he is expected to miss multiple weeks with a groin injury.

The last time the Cowboys made a major in-season trade for a wide receiver was in 2008 when they acquired Roy Williams from the Detroit Lions, plus a seventh-round pick, in exchange for their first-, third- and sixth-round picks.

Williams did not live up to the expectations after the trade, topping out at 38 catches for 596 yards and seven touchdowns in 2009. The Cowboys released Williams after the 2010 season.

Cooper, 24, is set to play 2019 under the fifth-year option worth roughly $13.9 million.

Cap space will not be an issue for the Cowboys, however, they want to re-sign leading pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, cornerback Byron Jones and can look at long-term deals for Ezekiel Elliott and Prescott as early as this offseason.

If Cooper provides Prescott, who is signed through 2019, with the outside threat the Cowboys have lacked this season, then the quarterback's chances of landing a big deal would increase.

Cooper is in the NFL's concussion protocol after suffering the injury last week in Oakland's loss to Seattle in London.

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