The trade deadline isn’t for another 10 days, but the Raiders are believed to be busily shopping their entire roster. A fire sale, if you will.
There have been a number of reports on Gruden’s mysterious plans for the roster and naturally a little speculation, too. This is what a handful of insiders around the league are saying about the Raiders willingness to make deals in the days ahead…
Vic Tafur in The Athletic:
“The key three people in that area — Gruden, offensive coordinator Greg Olson and even general manager Reggie McKenzie — have not told me or even remotely suggested that [Gruden doesn’t see Derek Carr as the franchise quarterback].
There is a long way to go before any major change from Carr will be considered, or for owner Mark Davis to sign off on knocking down the team’s other foundation, the $125 million one. Not to mention, why would Gruden decide that now, with the offensive line beat up and not giving Carr much of a chance at times?”
Albert Breer in TheMMQB.com:
“Amari Cooper isn’t trending in a great direction. The Raiders wideout went for 1,153 yards and five touchdowns on 83 catches in 2016. Since, he’s played in 20 games, and has 70 catches for 960 yards and eight touchdowns. And this year, he’s had two huge games (against Denver and Cleveland) and has been largely invisible since. Maybe you attribute some of that to Jon Gruden’s decisions. But it’s clearly less than what he’s capable of.
And if you give up, say, what you think would be a top-50 pick, he either works out and you keep him, or deal off, like you said, as New England did with Cooks, to get back what you gave; or he can’t pick it up much, and then you have a distressed asset. I think that makes it a dice roll for any team that’d consider him.
That said, Cooper has shown he has potential All-Pro talent, so this probably boils down to each team’s belief it can get the most out of him.”
Jason La Canfora, CBSSports.com:
“If there’s value for Amari Cooper, he’ll do it. He’s not going to give him away. He’ll give away Karl Joseph. He’ll give away Gareon Conley if anyone’s willing to take that salary off his hands,” La Canfora said. “I think he’ll give away Derrick Johnson if anyone wants him [Ed. Note: Johnson was cut by the Raiders shortly after the podcast]. I think the Jordy Nelson contract’s probably untradeable. If someone wants Marshawn Lynch, why not? If Donald Penn was healthy, he’d be gone. I think if Obi Melifonwu was healthy and not on IR, he’d be gone. If Reggie picked you, you’re gone…
The final one will be Derek Carr and I don’t think it will be close to the draft, I think it will be at the combine,” La Canfora continued. “And ultimately what’s the point of keeping Derek Carr? And if you have all this draft capital and you get a one plus something else for Derek Carr, which I think he can — I’ll call it right now, Derek Carr to the New York Giants. At the combine.”
John Middlekauff in The Athletic:
“Reports are surfacing about the Raiders potentially entering into a full-on fire sale, with every player on the roster except Derek Carr available for trade. The Athletic‘s own Michael Lombardi said on his podcast for The Ringer that people around the Raiders have questioned Cooper’s love of the game. While I have never heard this from anyone on the Raiders staff, and definitely not from people around the Alabama program, it has crossed my mind. Cooper’s playing style and body language don’t exactly scream “football is everything.” He can look lackadaisical and uninterested on Sundays. You don’t need to be an NFL exec to see that…
However, Cooper still has a ton of positives. He’s only 24. He’s still extremely fast and has even flashed the ability in 2018 (against Denver and Cleveland) that he can still ball. Yet his value is clearly not at an all-time high. I’ve always said he’d warrant a first-rounder via a trade. I’m not sure about that anymore.”
Charles Robinson, Yahoo Sports:
“According to two league sources who spoke with Yahoo Sports on Sunday, the Raiders appear to be open to having conversations about virtually any veteran not named Carr. And if things don’t start clicking with Carr by the end of this season, his availability may be the next story in Oakland, too…
As one league source framed it Sunday, if the Raiders were open to dealing the best player on their roster – Mack – anyone outside of Carr is subject to being moved. Especially if a player is coming up for a contract extension and doesn’t appear to be worth the kind of money he’ll seek. Which would explain the “pocket listed” availability of Cooper, who, despite having an up-and-down season, is expected to seek a massive contract extension this offseason. One that undoubtedly puts him in the realm of the league’s highest-paid wide receivers – a bracket that sits somewhere between $15 million-$18 million per season.”
Just a guess as to who is most likely to be traded away… it has to be Karl Joseph, right? For whatever reason, Paul Guenther and the gang just don’t seem to like anything about Joseph. Which from the outside surely comes across as crazy considering the players Guenther is playing ahead of Joseph.
What a mess.
Is it the 2019 season yet?
twitter: @raidersbeat
A disastrous rebuild 2.0 or is it 3.0, 4.0, 8.0 ,10.0 by now? The biggest problem is that Olson and Cable are worthless coaches, so whomever they draft will need to be so talented that they overcome poor coaching. That’s doesn’t bode well for the team’s success. I do think Guenther can is pretty good, but who knows? It’s as embarrassing now to be a Raiders as any time in history.
Some of these fake news spreaders like Middlekauf, who by the way I heard was balding in the 8th grade, thank God there’s The Athletic, now all the losers who have no talent, are good at lying, now they have a place to work. The Athletic is the CNN, MDNBC, National Enquirer of sports. Far as Cooper goes, we all knew he was a female dog the day PacMan shoved his face in the coliseum dirt and did nada about it.
Sometimes I wonder if anyone on the staff has a clue when it comes to player personnel decisions. It seems to be a popularity contest instead of playing time based on talent. Conley is the best DB on the team and he can’t get a snap, Nelson plays over Josephs and he hasn’t been able to cover deep for years, King was one of the best in the league and he gets cut when he could have been traded, and I can no longer stomach talking about the Mack debacle. The Raiders will continue to sink as long as Gruden is making personnel decisions.
Rick, you need to change your tampon and go support another team. Or, stay in a nice safe area until the Raiders have rebuilt the roster. Ok? Ok.