Jon Gruden Offers Questionable Explanation for Trading Gareon Conley to Texans

Jon Gruden has not been afraid to make some moves during his tenure with the Oakland Raiders, having already dealt a few star players in exchange for draft capital.

And the Raiders were back at it again on Monday when they surprisingly dealt former first-round pick Gareon Conley to the Houston Texans in exchange for a third-round pick.

Well, Gruden gave an explanation as to why he'd give up on the former Ohio State Buckeye so quickly, and it's a little confusing.

"I think he's a good young player. We drafted two young corners to play also and they're back ready to go here quickly. We want to give them an opportunity, like we are are a lot of young players at other positions," explained Gruden.

So, moving on from Conley in order to build a younger core would be a good move, if it weren't for the fact that the cornerback is only 24-years-old. Pretty questionable decision-making from Gruden here.

With Conley out of town, the Raiders will likely give more snaps to former Clemson CB Trayvon Mullen as well as fellow rookie DB Keisean Nixon.

Mullen has appeared in all six games for the Raiders this year, though he's logged very limited snaps. He's registered three tackles on the year, and hasn't seen double-digit snaps on defense since Week 3. Mullen will be the team's starter going forward.

As for Nixon, the undrafted rookie out of South Carolina has mostly featured on special teams for the Raiders, logging just seven snaps on defense, all of which came in Week 2.

Conley is coming off a solid 2018 season that saw him log three interceptions. In 2019, Conley has 23 tackles, one interception and two passes defensed. He'll hope to continue to improve with an organization that covets him, considering he wasn't drafted by the Gruden regime.