Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie says the decision to trade wide receiver Amari Cooper came because the Cowboys made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.
McKenzie said a first-round draft pick is so valuable in today’s NFL that the Raiders had to do it.
“We made a trade today to the Dallas Cowboys. It’s a trade that we feel it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass on to get a first-round pick. In this business here, I thought that was invaluable for me. It was something I felt like I had to do,” McKenzie said, via Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Although Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones are the final decision-makers on the respective teams, McKenzie said he handled the deal with Cowboys executive Stephen Jones, Jerry’s son.
“He wanted the player, and he gave me the pick. That’s what it came down to,” McKenzie said.
The Raiders now have three first-round draft picks in 2019: Their own, the Cowboys’ pick, and the Bears’ pick from the Khalil Mack trade. The Raiders also have two first-round picks in 2020, their own and the Bears’ pick. Time will tell if Gruden and McKenzie use those picks wisely.