Raiders trade Amari Cooper to Cowboys

[LesBaker]

This starting to bring back shades of Vermeil. Maybe, just maybe Gruden knows what he's doing and he's getting rid of the trash, a la Vermeil.

Let's see where Gruden is at season after next.

You could be right..........and for Raiders fans I know they hope you are.

It's a long time storied franchise and the NFL is more fun when iconic teams are successful.

 

[LesBaker]

Yeah, I know what he's doing and why he's doing it. He's gonna be WILDLY unpopular his first year or two as he tries to get his own guys in, but I think he'll end up assembling a good team by year 3. Problem is, fans just don't have the patience anymore. They're already turning on him in a big way too. That said, the world would be a better place if all fans had the resolute patience of Rams fans. We know how to keep our eye on the prize.

The fans in Oakland won't be in the picture by then so Gruden/Davis won't give a rats ass. They are already thinking about LV.

 

[-X-]

The fans in Oakland won't be in the picture by then so Gruden/Davis won't give a rats ass. They are already thinking about LV.

That's a good point .

 

[Loyal]

An important question is being asked by Raiders fans...

http://www.isgrudengoneyet.com/

 

[LesBaker]

That's a good point .

It was bad to see three teams move like this. It is hard to imagine it being uglier than it was..........and in this situation the fans in OAK are totally getting the middle finger. Rebuilding a roster then walking away after fans there put money in Davis's pockets since they moved back to OAK..........and frankly other than a three year window (with Gruden) they have been irrelevant for the rest of the 25 years.

 

[LesBaker]

An important question is being asked by Raiders fans...

http://www.isgrudengoneyet.com/

That is brilliant!!!

 

[Prime Time]

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/10/18/oakland-raiders-jon-gruden-tanking

The Soon-To-Be Las Vegas Raiders Can’t Admit It, But the Team Is Tanking
By JONATHAN JONES

JORDAN MURPH

Jon Gruden and his Oakland Raiders traveled to England last week where they got thumped 27–3 by the Seattle Seahawks. The Raiders did nothing well, and after failing to top 20 points in a game for the fifth time in six contests, Oakland fell to 1–5 on the season to own a share of the worst record in football. The scoring difference in their last two games (both losses)? 53–13.

“You know, got to do everything better,” Gruden said after the game with his trademark smirk peeking through. “And it all comes back to me.”

It was coachspeak, and it’s possible—if not probable—that Gruden only meant it halfheartedly. But these Raiders are Gruden’s Raiders, for better or worse. And Gruden’s Raiders are tanking in 2018.

Gruden will never say as much, of course; the problem with tanking is that you cannot say you’re tanking, and, in truth, tanking may not even be a sound strategy at all. But with a move to Las Vegas looming over Oakland, Gruden absolutely cannot admit to the Raiders tanking one of their last seasons in the Bay Area.

“I hear the hatred out there, some of the rumors that we are tanking it to get a first-round pick or a higher pick,” Gruden said Tuesday. We are not getting up at 4:00 in the morning to tank it. Ain’t nobody tanking it.”

But the evidence makes the contrary clear. My pal Andy Benoit detailed the myriad issues with the 2018 Raiders here so I won’t belabor the on-field issues. And I agree that even if Oakland had paid Khalil Mack they still wouldn’t be a winning team. But that doesn’t make it any less maddening when Gruden bemoans the lack of a pass rush on his team as he has multiple times this season, including as recently Oct. 8.

“We got to get more pressure on the quarterback, we got to force them to make some bad decisions,” Gruden said without a hint of irony. “We got to make that guy unload it when he doesn’t want to, we got to disrupt the timing, we got to knock them off the spot, we have to do better.”

Trading Mack was the clear first sign of tanking. Players play to win, but if you get rid of your best players, you’re left with a roster that cannot win. So out goes Mack and—what do you know?!—receiver Amari Cooper and safety Karl Joseph reportedly go on the trading block a month later.

The next step in tanking for a coach or top personnel guy, which Gruden has become, is to play the young guys. The Raiders entered 2018 with the oldest opening day roster (players’ ages averaged 27.4 years) since at least 2012, but they’re already burning through their rookies, playing as many as eight at key positions in their Week 5 loss to the Chargers. “They’re still learning,” a coach can say as he fails to put the team in a winning position, all while the franchise creeps through autumn on its way to a top-three draft pick.

“I’m excited about the rookie class. I’ve been accused my whole life of hating rookies and liking old players, and now I’m playing 10 rookies,” Gruden said Tuesday. “What do you say to that, America?”

There’s an ingenious site that has sprouted up in recent days. IsGrudenGoneYet.com shows you how much time is left on his 10-year, $100 million contract while counting how much money he’s made in the time that you’ve been on the site. It only takes one disgruntled—if not clever—fan to make this site, so to extrapolate this with a majority of the fan base would be unfair.

But faithful Raider Nation must be growing weary of the team hurtling toward its 15 non-winning season in the past 16 years. The Raiders likely have just one season left in Oakland before moving to Las Vegas in 2020 (though even that’s murky), and owner Mark Davis has to be worried about a lameduck season or two in Oakland.

Recall Houston in 1996. Notoriously cheap Oilers owner Bud Adams had struck up a deal to take his franchise to Nashville. Houstonians responded by not showing up to home games in the 1996 season, and the Oilers’ average homegame attendance ranked last at 31,825 people. The Astrodome was so empty that fans in the stands could hear conversations on the field.

“The oddsmakers say it's worth three points at home,” Oilers coach Jeff Fisher told The New York Times in 1996. “What I can say is that when half the fans are booing and you lose, you say it has something to do with it—but if you win it has nothing to do with it. I think our fans are frustrated and are not coming out because they know they're going to lose their football team in a couple of years.”

Is that scenario possible with the rabid Oakland fans? Maybe not, but Davis can’t take that chance. Admitting to tanking means you aren’t Committed To Winning™. What fan wants to buy in to a team that doesn’t put winning above all else?

And Davis needs fans to literally buy in: Visit the website of the stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders, the team sure to be built in Gruden’s image with a bevy of draft picks in 2019 and ’20. Scroll the home page and you’ll be directed to PLACE A DEPOSIT seven (SEVEN!) times to secure your personal seat license for your spot in the desert.

That $100 million contract isn’t going to pay for itself.

 

[Merlin]

Snead had just sent me a PM here right before this shot was taken... LOOK... you can still see ROD is pulled up on his computer.

LOL


Awesome

I suspect @-X- was up to some shenanigans on the website that was up on Les' computer lol. He's a sneaky MFer with that type of stuff and has gotten me before.

Re: the Raiders fans, it makes me laugh that they're just now starting to realize the Raiders aren't in a hurry to get to Vegas because they know they need to rebuild. That Oakland gets to absorb the tank. Also it's particularly entertaining given how for all Gruden's "overratedness" he's still far better a head coach than the other clowns the Raiders have trotted through that front office. He will win if you get him enough players that fit.

 

[Ram65]

This is Snead and McVay. I think they kick the tires, and try to lowball the Raiders, if they can fit Cooper under the cap.

One thing we've seen this year is that it's possible our great receivers can get injured.

Besides, if they make an offer, it at least may raise the price for anybody else trying to trade for him.

You are right. At least kick the tires. Rams are having great success with three wide receivers so AC would be good insurance. He can also give the others a rest. He would be an end of the year rental. Rams should have a couple extra third rounders. Raising the price can't hurt either.

I don’t want to see him end up on the Eagles.

+1

 

[Prime Time]

Amari Cooper at 1:06 of this video.


View: https://twitter.com/NFLOfficiating/status/1053352009032785920

 

[dang]

Lets save any roster pick ups this year for the Defense. EDGE...EDGE...EDGE!!

 

[fearsomefour]

Lets save any roster pick ups this year for the Defense. EDGE...EDGE...EDGE!!

Wouldn't mind Whitehead from the Raiders.
He is mostly a 2 down ILB but he is a legit ILB run defended. Move Barron to OLB.

 

[shaunpinney]

Trying to get top-heavy draft capital me thinks...

 

[PhillyRam]

Raiders will trade Carr, get more picks & more cap space, and then start over like the Rams did with a young QB, young WRs, and a young tail back.

Sprinkle in some key FAs with their extra cap space, and you can turn things around quickly as long as you get the right young QB and can coach him up.

 

[dang]

Wouldn't mind Whitehead from the Raiders.
He is mostly a 2 down ILB but he is a legit ILB run defended. Move Barron to OLB.

I wondered that myself. How would Barron or Littleton do on the outside if we strengthened the inside. Worth investigating and am sure Coach Wade has considered it.

 

[den-the-coach]

I wondered that myself. How would Barron or Littleto do on the outside if we strengthened the inside. Worth investigating and am sure Coach Wade has considered it.

Great point, I would move Littleton outside, he played that position at Washington and go with rookie Micah Kiser inside, but I don't expect that to happen this year because Littleton calls the defensive signals, but that could happen next year.

As to the Raiders I have posted many times that Mark Davis reminds me so much of Georgia Frontiere, huge contract for Gruden, but would not pay Mack. Anyway some good points of the fire sale going on in Oakland...Derek Carr might not be a good match for Gruden, but for Pat Shurmur, might be a perfect match.

@Karate61 brings up a point I did not thing about, comparing Gruden to Vermeil and that's possible and @LesBaker posting about moving, but in fairness the City of Oakland has done nothing IMO. Again, I believe it's on the Owner and he should be able to get the stadium privately funded, if he's truly connected, I'm betting Al Davis could have. The irony is Al Davis always wanted to build on the property where Hollywood Park Racetrack was and that's where Enos Stanley Kroenke is building his palatial venue, the more things change the more they remain the same.

Anyway having a team in Vegas will be a good thing, that Stadium in Oakland is the worst in the NFL and everyone feels the Chargers moving to San Diego will be good for Super Bowls, but Vegas will even be better. Everyone will embrace the opportunity to hold that even in Las Vegas and don't be surprised to see the Oakland Athletics become the Las Vegas Athletics and just like that Vegas has three sports teams.

Yes @LesBaker a move is not good for the fans, but this move is good for the team. It will provide Mark Davis with more revenue that I do believe he will put into the teams because Georgia did it with the move to St. Louis. Also the Stadium will be a major upgrade and because it's still close will not alienate the fans and again JMHO.

As to this thread Amari Cooper was one of the better talents coming out, but has underachieved and I do concur with many others, if the Rams are going to make a trade, I would send the draft capital to Buffalo for Jerry Hughes.

 

[LesBaker]

Yes @LesBaker a move is not good for the fans, but this move is good for the team. It will provide Mark Davis with more revenue that I do believe he will put into the teams because Georgia did it with the move to St. Louis. Also the Stadium will be a major upgrade and because it's still close will not alienate the fans and again JMHO.

Every NFL owner can operate their franchise and make tens of millions in profit just off the TV and merch revenues that are split between teams. So Davis doesn't really need more money to put into the team, he's already making enough. If he wanted to put more into the team he could already be doing it.

The move is all about his bank account. Just like trying to get a new stadium built in OAK was all about him making more money for himself.

The level of greed in the NFL continues to set new high water marks and I wonder when it will peak, or possibly crash.

I think it's wishful thinking that it won't alienate fans, this is the second time the Davis family has broken it off in their third point of contact. Some fans will stay fans, but I suspect most will be either finding a new team or out of the sport.

It's well over 500 miles away.........it may as well be across the country. It's not like SD and LA where a fan could make a day trip of it with family or friends.

I'm not aware of what Georgia did when she moved to STL as far as spending more money on the team. Fill me in.

 

[den-the-coach]

I'm not aware of what Georgia did when she moved to STL as far as spending more money on the team. Fill me in.

It's a long story, but I will try to give the crib note version. Anyway, John Shaw oversaw the expansion committee in the 90's and it came down to five teams. Carolina, St. Louis, Baltimore, Jacksonville & Memphis...The league wanted Charlotte, NC because was a hotbed and St. Louis because Walter Payton was going to be the Managing General Partner. Before the bids were going to be announced, Payton's main money man pulled out, but the NFL gave the city of St. Louis an extension to find a new guy and more irony, that guy was Stan Kronke.

In the end the NFL did not like Kronke, thought he was a yokel as he came to the meeting in Cowboy Boots and a Western Tie, boy how things change? So the NFL went with Charlotte & Jacksonville because they really liked Wayne Weaver (Jaguars) and Commissioner Tagliabue made announcement that Charlotte and Jacksonville would be the cities to expand because the Southeast was a hotbed in the US right now.

John Shaw because overseeing the committee had access to the bids and could not believe the revenue available and got in Georgia's ear that she should consider a relocation. The Rams were sharing a Stadium with the California Angeles (sound familiar) in Anaheim and after the death of Carroll Rosenbloom the City of Anaheim was reneging on some of the upgrades promised to CR. Anyway the Rams were able to get out of the lease because of the lack of fans showing up to games and Shaw was adamant they had to move.

John Shaw wanted the Rams to move to Baltimore, he rationale was because the football fans in Los Angeles were apathetic and would chose the beach over football,where in Baltimore football was a religion. Problem in Baltimore was the stadium, it was not going to be ready for a while and the Old Memorial Stadium, where the Colts played was really bad, so there would have been major logistics there, so former Senator Thomas Eagleton got involved with the Rams and convinced them to focus on St. Louis as that new Stadium would be ready in October of 94 and they could play at Bush Stadium for a month, plus they put together a sweetheart deal for Georgia including an inexpensive lease for moving the Rams to St. Louis that set her up for the rest of her life, it was the envy of many owners in the NFL like Art Modell (Browns) and Bud Adams (Oilers) that followed Frontiere's lead and the other two areas Baltimore & Tennessee ended up getting franchises too.

That's it in a huge nutshell, the Rams always had cash flow issues, Carroll Rosenbloom was always moving money around and it's been reported in the 80's that some payroll checks were not good. Moving to St. Louis and providing a State of the Art Venue injected Frontiere with cash and provided her with a minority owner who had plenty of jack as well. Again the irony is so amazing that Kronke after being snickered at by the NFL big wigs in the 90's was able to garner their approval for the relocation back to Los Angles as once again in the end Owners love money and Kronke has plenty of it and together him and his wife (Sam Walton's Daughter) have what it takes to actually build a venue for the ages in the City of Angels.

 

[Ranma]

View: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1054449977869656065