Oakland Raiders: Jon Gruden may have not wanted controversial trades

For the past few months, Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has been under fire from all angles regarding the team’s conduct of the roster.

Nothing has brought more fire down on his head than the head-scratching trades of defensive end Khalil Mack and wide receiver Amari Cooper. It’s been rumored that he was the primary driving force behind those two moves and has been the reason the Raiders have suffered since they happened. The defense has just 10 sacks on the season. Mack delivered his 9th on Sunday in New York. Their leading receiver is Jordy Nelson with 450 yards.

Cooper has 424 in just the five games since he left for Dallas. It’s plain as day the Raiders did not get better by unloading two of their best players and Gruden’s been taking the heat for it. He signed that massive 10-year contract. He got total control of the roster from ownership. Ultimately these missteps fall at his feet, right?

That’s the popular narrative anyway. However, at least one NFL insider believes the coach is less the criminal than an unwitting accomplice in the crime. Benjamin Allbright who primarily covers the Broncos but has a long history of successful NFL insider information dropped not-so-subtle hints that the reason for the trades came from a higher source in the organization.

Mark Davis may have hung Gruden out to dry

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One thing that has become true about owner Mark Davis is he’s not the most financially savvy man in the world. His lack of business prowess has led to the Raiders being one of the least profitable organizations in the NFL. Those money issues helped pave the way for the team’s pending move to Las Vegas, marking the second time in team history that will happen.

It wouldn’t be a surprise at all if he got fed up with a tough agent like Joel Segal, who represents both Mack and Cooper. Owners, in general, don’t like agents. Davis seeking some sort of misguided revenge by trading the players rather than paying them doesn’t sound overly hard to believe. Of course, Segal is probably not sweating the moves at this point.

Mack is now the highest-paid defensive player in football and reportedly ecstatic to be in Chicago. Cooper will soon get a payday of his own in Dallas where he seems far more appreciated. If anything the agent is probably sitting back at his desk with a smile on his face, realizing he got two of his top players out of an NFL purgatory.

Davis? He’s now presiding over his sixth losing season as owner since 2011 with no end in sight. If he really was responsible for the trades being greenlit, then it’s another sign of how inadequate he is to be owning a football team.

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