The Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders play each other in six days; that didn’t stop them from pulling off a trade. On Monday, Oakland sent starting cornerback Gareon Conley to Houston early in exchange for the Seattle Seahawks’ third-round selection.
“One quick announcement, we did trade cornerback Gareon Conley to the Houston Texans. It was a tough decision, obviously,” said Raiders coach Jon Gruden during Monday’s press conference. “We certainly wish Gareon the best. Good, young player.”
The Raiders drafted Conley at No. 24 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. Coming out of Ohio State, the 6-0, 195-pound cornerback was compared to Pro Bowler Aqib Talib.
“It’s tough, it’s difficult,” said Gruden on trading their starting cornerback to their next challengers. Other than that, he remained mum on the odd situation.
“It is hard, it’s hard trading anybody,” the coach continued. “We have some young guys that we want to have an opportunity and that’s the decision we made.”
Nonetheless, Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock agreed to the trade. It’s fair to wonder if Conley will share any defensive strategies the Raiders use to the Texans coaching staff. On the other side of the spectrum, Oakland is probably all too aware of how to attack him.
