One of the most surprising moves the Raiders made this season was trading away cornerback Gareon Conley, who was great for the team in the previous season. That move netted the Raiders a third-round pick in this upcoming draft, but that allowed the team to give more snaps to 2019 second-round pick Trayvon Mullen.
Mullen’s snap count jumped dramatically in Week 7 as he played at least 80 percent of the team’s defensive snaps over the next 10 weeks. Mullen finished the season with 10 pass deflections and one key interception that helped seal the win against the Bengals in Week 11.
As you would expect, Mullen had his ups and downs as a starter, but the fact that he had a few outstanding games has to be encouraging for the Raiders going forward. In a recent piece by Pro Football Focus, Mullen was graded as the seventh-best rookie cornerback in 2019, as he was named the 50th-best rookie in the class.
Once Oakland traded cornerback Gareon Conley to Houston, Trayvon Mullen was thrown in as starter where he had mixed results. Since Week 8, Mullen had two games that earned a PFF grade above 80.0, but he also three game grades below 50.0.
It’s pretty clear the Raiders are going to continue to add to the cornerback position this offseason, but at least they have a good feeling about Mullen heading into the 2020 season. With some experience in his back pocket, look for the former Clemson cornerback to be even better next season for the Raiders.
