The Dallas Cowboys paid a steep price to acquire Amari Cooper from the Oakland Raiders. The cost of a first-round pick effectively ties the Cowboys to Dak Prescott for at least one more season, eliminating any excuses about a lack of talent surrounding the third-year quarterback.

Regardless of the price, the Cowboys now possess a true No. 1 WR -- something the team has been without throughout 2018.

Since he was drafted fourth overall in the 2015 NFL Draft, Cooper has accumulated 225 catches for 3,183 yards, 14.1 yards per catch and 19 touchdowns. After Pro Bowl berths his first two seasons, Cooper saw his production plummet because of poor quarterback play and a coaching change. Raiders coach Jon Gruden wants "his guys," and it quickly became apparent that Cooper wasn't going to be one of them.

Even in a bad situation with a coach who didn't want him, Cooper still has more 100-yard receiving games (two) this season than all of the Cowboys wide receivers and tight ends combined (one).

It's clear that Cooper is an upgrade over Dallas' receiver corps. But is he also an upgrade of the team's previous No. 1 wide receiver, Dez Bryant?

Let's take a look.

What do the stats say?

Based on their career stats, Bryant has the slight edge over Cooper:

Bryant has the edge in catches, yards and touchdowns per game while Cooper has a minuscule edge in yards per catch. It's important to note, however, that Bryant's best seasons came when he was 24-26 years old. Cooper, 24, is just entering that stretch of his career.

When you compare their production before turning 24, Cooper has the advantage:

Cooper was better in receptions per game, yards per game and yards per catch while Bryant leads in touchdowns per game, likely due to Bryant receiving more frequent targets inside the red zone. Before turning 24, Bryant averaged 11.5 targets per season inside the 10-yard line. Cooper averaged five.

Athleticism

These results shouldn't surprise anyone who has paid attention to Bryant and Cooper's careers.

Bryant outperformed Cooper in the vertical and broad jumps, scoring in the 84th percentile among NFL wide receivers in the vertical and 95th percentile in the broad jump. Bryant under-performed in agility drills, finishing in the 44th percentile in the 40-yard dash, 16th percentile in the 20-yard shuttle and 44th percentile in the three-cone drill.

Conversely, Cooper outpaced the former Cowboys star receiver in the agility drills, scoring in the 82nd percentile in the 40-yard dash, 78th percentile in the 20-yard shuttle and 82nd percentile in the three cone drill. Cooper isn't too far behind Bryant on the vertical and broad jumps, scoring in the 75th and 86th percentiles respectively.

Skillset

It's important to delineate that Cooper and Bryant are very different receivers who win in very different ways despite their similar body types (Bryant: 6-foot-2, 220 pounds with 9.75-inch hands. Cooper: 6-foot-1, 211 pounds with 10-inch hands).

At his best, Bryant was a physically dominant wide receiver who made up for his lack of route-running prowess with physicality at the top of routes and historic contested catch ability. Bryant leveraged his strong hands, timing and leaping ability to bully cornerbacks at the catch point.

Here is the #DallasCowboys new No. 1 WR: Amari Cooper. 225 career catches for 3,183 yards and 19 touchdowns. 2-time Pro-Bowler. pic.twitter.com/U2CXfc0M7d — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 22, 2018

Cooper is essentially the inverse. He struggles in contested catch situations but excels at creating separation with his route-running, enabling him to threaten every part of the field through an array of routes. Cooper's speed and refined route-running ability allow him to manipulate and create separation from opposing defensive backs.

Getting open

For wide receivers, the most important trait to master is route running. Look at the best receivers in the NFL: Antonio Brown, Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr. are technicians who maximize their physical capabilities with refined route-running. Route-running is an amalgamation of speed, quickness, physicality, timing, pacing, precision, awareness and savviness.

As stated above, there's really no contest in this department between Bryant and Cooper. The Alabama product is far superior in nearly every aspect of route running.

Bryant isn't a bad route-runner per se. In fact, he runs one of the best slant routes in the NFL. He just lacks the athletic ability and nuance to consistently separate from defensive backs using his routes. Bryant has the basics of route-running down but lacks the more graduate-level concepts, such as manipulating the leverage and space between defenders, selling routes with his eyes and hips, and reading the hips of defensive backs to inform the depth and timing of his route breaks.

Because Bryant never became a great route-runner, he was forced to win in contested catch situations, which was fine when Bryant was in his prime and could sky over defensive backs with ease. When Bryant's physical capabilities started to deteriorate, though, his production fell off a cliff since he could no longer dominate at the catch-point. If Bryant was an astute route-runner akin to Cooper, he'd still be the No. 1 receiver in Dallas right now.

Cooper is a magician with his route-running ability. Last week, we discussed Cooper's 'invisible route-running' and how he leverages it to create separation from defensive backs. Cooper is an expert at manipulating space, identifying coverage and reading the leverage of defensive backs, making him extremely difficult to cover one-on-one. Cooper is able to get open and create easy passing windows for his quarterbacks with regularity because of his refined route-running ability.

Even when Cooper's physical traits start to decline, he will still be able to consistently produce because of his refined route-running ability.

Contested catch situations

Much like in the route-running category, there's not much debate as to which receiver thrives more in contested catch situations.

While he struggled toward the end of his career in Dallas, Bryant was one of the best contested-catch receivers in football during his prime. Not only did he possess the leaping ability to rise up over defensive backs at the catch point, but Bryant's incredibly strong hands also allowed him consistently to make catches through contact.

Bryant's contested-catch ability was on display most in the red zone, as he was the Cowboys' trump card against tight defenses near the goal line.

Contrarily, Cooper is actually below-average in contested-catch situations. The former Raiders receiver lacks the physicality Bryant used to go up and win in the air through contact, and he often struggles with concentration drops with bodies around him. Cooper is not the type of receiver who a quarterback can force the ball to even when covered. He has routinely come up small in those situations.

Cooper has also dealt with his

of drops. It's not because Cooper lacks receiving ability -- he can make all types of catches within and outside his frame. He just tends to lose concentration at the catch point at times, often because he is focused on creating yards after the catch and thus prematurely turns his eyes upfield before he's secured the ball.

Yards after catch

Unlike with contested catches and route running, Cooper and Bryant are actually comparable in terms of generating yards after the catch.

Bryant, who has 2,524 total yards after the catch (4.6 yards-after-catch per reception), uses his unique balance and raw strength to fight through would-be tacklers, illustrated by his 86 career broken tackles, per Pro Football Focus. This made Bryant dangerous on slants and hitch routes, as one broken tackle could lead to a giant gain.

Cooper is also a yards-after-catch threat, averaging 5.4 yards-after-catch per reception, but in a much different manner. Cooper uses his athleticism and speed to run away from and weave through defenders when the ball is in his hands.

The only problem with Cooper's yards-after-catch ability: It is more reliant on a well-placed throw from the quarterback than Bryant with his ability to break tackles rather that outrun defenders in space. When Cooper catches the ball on the run, his speed and acceleration give him the ability to outrun defenders for chunk gains.

Conclusion

Right now, Cooper is a vastly superior wide receiver than Bryant, whose skill set has deteriorated with age and a myriad of injuries. It's the reason why Dallas was OK sending a first-round pick for Cooper, but Bryant is still a free agent.

But comparing Cooper to a prime Bryant is a much more worthwhile endeavor, especially when considering Dak Prescott as the quarterback.

In a vacuum, prime Dez Bryant was one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Because of his elite contested catch ability and physically-dominating style, Bryant was near-impossible to cover in one-on-one situations.

Having said that, Cooper's style is a much better fit for Prescott's skill set and the Cowboys offense. This season, it has become apparent that Prescott isn't accurate enough to consistently make tight-window throws. Therefore, Prescott works best with receivers who can create separation with their routes, as they can create larger throwing windows, giving Prescott more room for error on his throws.

The Cowboys offensive scheme is dependent on the route-running ability of the receivers. Rather than being schemed open by design with rub routes, crossing patterns and bunch formations, the onus is on the receivers to get open by themselves, as Dallas runs a bevy of isolation routes.

So while a prime Dez Bryant may once have been a better receiver, Amari Cooper is the better fit for this Cowboys offense and quarterback.

John Owning writes about NFL player evaluation for SportsDayDFW.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnOwning.