Amari Cooper is thrilled to be with the Dallas Cowboys, who traded a first-round pick to the Oakland Raiders for the wide receiver earlier this season.

Cooper said he "wasn't really happy in Oakland" and that the Cowboys are using him much more prolifically than the Raiders did.

"I looked at it totally different than most people looked at it," Cooper said. "[The Raiders] basically said, 'We could get a guy, who's going to contribute better than he will, in the first round.' And I didn't know how to feel about that.

"I just always felt like I wasn't really being used how I felt like I would have used me if I was the coach. So I looked at it from that perspective, not from the perspective that, 'Oh, they don't think I'm good enough' or I'm not good enough.

"I never had those questions in my mind. At all."

Cooper has been targeted on 24.4 percent of his routes with the Cowboys. The number was just 15.4 percent with the Raiders.

Doug Martin has been effective since Marshawn Lynch went on injured reserve and Jon Gruden hopes he remains with the Oakland Raiders in 2019.

Martin has rushed 60 times for 285 yards and caught 10 passes for 95 yards over the last five games.

"Hopefully we can keep him around here," Gruden said. "He's a heck of a football player."

The Arizona Cardinals have a 43 percent chance of earning the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and a 99 percent chance of a top-5 pick.

The San Francisco 49ers have a 31 percent change of the No. 1 overall pick and a 95 percent chance of a top-5 pick.

The Oakland Raiders have an 18 percent chance of the top pick and a 94 percent chance of a top-5 pick.

The Cardinals, 49ers and Raiders are all 2-9.

Both Jon Gruden and Derek Carr downplayed a heated conversation on the sidelines during the first half of Sunday's 23-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

It wasn't the first such exchange for the Oakland Raiders and it likely won't be the last.

Gruden got on Carr after he missed an open receiver down the right sideline on a third-down pass.

"That's the first time you've seen it," Gruden said, "but it isn't the first time it's happened. We're both competitors. We're competing hard there. We had a man-to-man situation and he went for the big play.

"We had a mild disagreement. But you know what, that's part of this business. We're going to have times where we clash a little bit but we're also very supportive of one another. I'm really proud of him. He's been through a lot this year, and I'm glad he's our quarterback."

Gruden is notoriously hard on quarterbacks.

"We're both very fiery -- a lot of people don't see that in me, all the time -- we're both competitive," Carr said. "A minor disagreement on something and the beautiful thing is, when we do that, it's not a demeaning thing or pointing a finger. We're both yelling the same kind of thing, almost: 'Let's fix it!'

"Everything's good, I promise."

After the Oakland Raiders' loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, owner Mark Davis took the blame for the team's 1-8 start.

"I always look in the mirror, and the buck stops with me," Davis said. "Where this team is right now is my fault. We haven't been able to build a 22-man roster. We haven't been able to give this team a chance to win because the reconstruction failed. We failed from 2014 on to have a roster right now."

Davis was referring to his two-phase, four-year deconstruction/reconstruction project, which began under Reggie McKenzie in 2012.

He added that he'd prefer for the Raiders to play next season in Oakland.

"I personally want to play in Oakland," Davis said. "I absolutely want to play in Oakland. We have a completed lease sitting with the city council, that all they have to do is agree to it and we're here next year."

The Oakland Raiders have released Bruce Irvin.

"We would like to thank Bruce Irvin for his years of service to the Oakland Raiders and we wish him the best,'' general manager Reggie McKenzie said.

Irvin, who had a career-high-tying eight sacks opposite Khalil Mack last season, struggled as the primary pass-rusher for the Raiders.

Jon Gruden continues to defend the job he's doing with the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders are now 1-7 following their loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

"The Oakland Raiders is a great organization," said Gruden. "I know it's not looking pretty right now. I've heard a lot of negativity over the last six or seven months, and rightfully so. But we're going to build a championship football team here. I know a lot of people as players, as fans, just in general, want to be a part of this."

Jon Gruden believes the Oakland Raiders remain a team players want to play for despite their 1-6 start and trades of Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper.

"I got a cellphone just like you and everybody else. I get a lot of phone calls from people that are dying to come play here. I'm just telling you. They're dying to play for the Raiders," Gruden said.

"And to have salary-cap space and to have a chance to talk to the people that you really want to wear the silver and black, the guys you really want to wear the silver and black and represent this team, that's exciting."

The Raiders are estimated to have $68 million in salary-cap space in 2019, according to OverTheCap.com. Oakland also will have three first-round picks in the 2019 draft.