What do you do when you have a player who through 6 games has 22 catches for 280 yards who has 960 yards after his last 20 games who is also a bit injury prone? You naturally ask for a 1st round pick. To that I say…
Reality
I suppose I sort of respect this plan from Gruden and the Raiders. You ask for a crazy asking price, for a guy though young, is under performing at lightning fast level. It’s kind of like when you see you go to a store and you see a pair of sunglasses at around $400 and you think to yourself that there’s no good reason that these sunglasses are worth this much. But, the fact that they are this much makes you feel as though you should pay that price as if there’s something special about these sunglasses that warrants that price.
After already trading Khalil Mack, @JayGlazer reports that the Raiders have been in discussions to trade former first round picks Amari Cooper and Karl Joseph. pic.twitter.com/6QrogAHNAQ
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 14, 2018
Maybe there’s something, not to the naked eye, that makes Cooper worth that asking price. We’ve seen him play well a few years ago but as of right now he’s playing like an undrafted free agent who might get a call from a team who has a rash of injuries.
More Reality
Whatever happens, it appears painfully obvious that the Gruden experiment, for a reasonable $100m over 10 years, is looking like a swing and a miss. Carr has the look of a guy who can very easily be replaced after the year, which means Gruden is going to have to start over with a new QB. Actually, it was probably his plan all along. Smart of Chuck.
No matter what the outcome is for the Raiders this year, I feel confident in putting my good name on the line in saying that the Raiders will not get a 1st rd. pick for Amari Cooper. Maybe they get a 4-5, if they’re lucky. To bad this isn’t Madden from the mid 2000s. If it was, the Raiders would be able to take Bruce Irvin, turn his position into a DE, which would make his rating go up to like a 92 making it easy to trade him for the likes of a Deuce McCallister. Sad we don’t live in that world.
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