After countless rumors, the Oakland Raiders have traded top receiver Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a first round pick.
The Cowboys always seemed to be the team most interested in Cooper from the get-go, so the trade is not that surprising. What is surprising is the fact that Jerry Jones and company actually met the Raiders asking price with a first round pick. From the moment it was reported that Oakland wanted a top pick for Cooper I honestly laughed at the notion that some team would be willing to give up such an asset.
In an article, I wrote about possible trade partners for Cooper and had the Cowboys giving up a second round pick which I thought was still high. However, what’s the old saying “desperate times call for desperate measures” and it’s clear the Cowboys view their current receiver group as one of the worst in the league if they’re giving up first round picks.
So for Oakland, there are multiple ways to look at this, but given where the team was already heading under Jon Gruden’s leadership I’d have to say this trade was a win for him.
This team is clearly in the midst of a total rebuild, and there is no more denying that.
Gruden has gutted this roster and wants to build his vision of a winning football team.
What exactly does that team look like?
Well, we have no idea, but Gruden is stockpiling as many drafts picks as he can so that the foundation for his team is laid down within these next two seasons. Having five first-round picks over the next two drafts are pretty crazy ammo for any rebuild so Gruden and GM Reggie McKenzie should be commended on that front.
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However, even in winning this trade there are now even more issues concerning the 2018 and likely the 2019 seasons.
For starters, the team is clearly not trying their hardest to win football games this year. You don’t give away players like Khalil Mack and Cooper if your goal is to compete this season. So the organization can stop trying to convince fans otherwise.
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And even if Gruden hits on all three picks in next year’s draft, there is a high chance they won’t be competitive in 2019 either. There aren’t any high impact free agents this coming offseason so even the cap space they accumulated can’t help pay for a winner. And if they just stick with the youth, that generally doesn’t win in this league. So this will probably take 3-4 years to work.
That reality I’m sure is not gaining Gruden any fans in that locker room. Most players don’t have time to care about the future and essentially wasting a year or maybe two their career is something they probably aren’t too happy about.
This team is going to continue being a bottom feeder this year, and it will be interesting to see the effort these players give each week.
And talk about wasting time, the true loser in this situation is the Oakland fans as it is becoming more evident with each passing day that this team cares more about their new start in Las Vegas than their closing time in Oakland.
In the Raiders defense, they have every right to think this way, but it seems like every statement Gruden made about this team when he was hired became nothing more than an elaborate a PR stunt.
There is no doubt the future does in indeed set up nicely on paper, but if Gruden thought there was pressure before it’s going to reach another level these next few years.
He needs to go out and build a winner completely from scratch. Something he has never done in his career.