On Monday afternoon, the Raiders decided to make the somewhat puzzling move to trade cornerback Gareon Conley in his third year in the NFL. The price? A likely late third-round pick from the Houston Texans via the Seattle Seahawks.
Conley was allegedly on the trade block during the 2018 season, but Oakland decided to hold onto the former Ohio State cornerback, and that proved to be the right move. Conley quickly developed into one of the better cornerbacks in the league, having massive games against the likes of Antonio Brown and Tyreek Hill.
Unfortunately, Conley just hasn’t been able to replicate that play this season. He had the worst game of his career on Sunday against the Packers, and the team decided to move on while he still had value.
Outside of poor play, it’s important to remember that Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock did not draft Conley. And while that might not be an excuse to trade away a good player, we see this happen too often in the NFL. Front offices just aren’t loyal to players they didn’t draft or sign in free agency.
But more than anything, this move signals that Oakland wants to see two of the corners they drafted this year; Trayvon Mullen from Clemson and Isaiah Johnson from Houston. Both players are long, athletic cornerbacks who can take away the ball. But both need a lot of reps to get up to speed.
With the Raiders’ defense still being a work in progress, Oakland needs to find out sooner rather than later what they have in Mullens and Johnson. And with Nevin Lawson returning from his suspension, the Raiders do have some depth at the position.
But make no mistake about it. The Gareon Conley trade had everything to do with Mayock and Gruden falling in love with their two rookie cornerbacks. It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out for the Raiders.
