The Oakland Raiders are coming off an embarrassing 42-24 loss to the Green Bay Packers and now have several questions to answer.
While the offense was able to keep pace with the Packers, the defense did them no favors as they routinely allowed Aaron Rodgers to find his receivers downfield and dial-up big-time throws that put the game out of reach. The Raiders secondary has been susceptible to the big play all season and it is clear that it needs to improve if they hope to stick around in games.
It appears head coach Jon Gruden and the front office took the loss as a sign that a move needed to be made and they did just that by shipping away Gareon Conley to the Houston Texans in exchange for a third-round pick.
After the deal was made, Gruden addressed the decision to move off of the cornerback, via the Raiders official Twitter:
“One quick announcement, we did trade Gareon Conley to the Houston Texans. It was a tough decision, obviously. We certainly wish Gareon the best, good young player. We do have some young corners that we drafted. Trayvon Mullen, we have Isaiah Johnson coming back soon, Keisean Nixon, and Nevin Lawson is back. We want to look at some younger players and wish Gareon the best, thank him for his contribution.”
Conley has not lived up to his first-round pedigree as the corner out of Ohio State has been up-and-down this season. Conley has managed to record four interceptions so far in his career and now gets a chance to prove he can be effective for a Texans team that’s seen its secondary hit hard with injuries.
In his place, Trayvon Mullen figures to enter the starting lineup but it remains to be seen how well he will hold up as he struggled in his NFL debut against the Denver Broncos. The second-round pick out of Clemson has played sparingly since then, but it appears that Gruden is eager to trot him out and hopefully develop him over the course of the season.
Recouping a third-round pick for Conley was a great move for the Raiders as Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock continue to stockpile assets. They are most likely still looking to tweak the roster ahead of the NFL trade deadline, so do not be surprised if the team makes more moves to continue to stay in the playoff race.
