On Monday afternoon, Jon Gruden's Oakland Raiders traded wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys. In exchange, they received the Cowboys' first-round pick in the 2019 draft. The Raiders now have three picks in the first round, a setup that has been very successful for teams in recent seasons.
General manager Reggie McKenzie has already commented on the trade and how it went down, but Gruden apparently has yet to inform his players what happened. According to Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Gruden doesn't plan to address his team about the trade until Wednesday.
Jon Gruden has yet to address WR Amari Cooper’s trade with team. Didn’t mention it during practice or in his address afterward. Expected to do so Wednesday morning at next team meeting. Some players saw Cooper be pulled off field. Didn’t know until checked phones in locker room.
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) October 22, 2018
That's ... weird.
Gruden has been doing some weird stuff ever since he took over in Oakland, like signing a bunch of 30-plus-year-old veterans, trading Khalil Mack after not even speaking to him upon taking the job, complaining about how the team has no pass rush after trading Khalil Mack, and more. But not telling the team their teammate has been traded even after that teammate was pulled off the field during practice and players found out about the trade on their phones? That might take the cake.
All that said, Gruden and company made a nice deal here. The Cowboys paid a premium price for a player who has been underperforming for nearly a season and a half, has just a year and change left on his deal at one of the highest price-points for any receiver in the league, and clearly was not in Oakland's plans. Pretty solid move! Just, tell the team about it right away next time.
