The internet has no idea what Jon Gruden and the Raiders are doing after the Amari Cooper trade
The trade is complete and Amari Cooper is officially out of Oakland. Jon Gruden and the Oakland Raiders shipped out the former fourth overall pick on Monday to the Dallas Cowboys for a first-round pick.
The trade involved two very polarizing teams, two very polarizing decision-makers in Gruden and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and one extraordinarily polarizing player in Cooper, who has struggled over the past couple of years despite some very evident talent.
"It was an opportunity that I felt I couldn’t pass on. To get a first-round pick, in this business here, I thought was invaluable."
GM Reggie McKenzie announces trade of Amari Cooper: https://t.co/9gcShB7VwU pic.twitter.com/f9sgKgJu9M
— Oakland Raiders (@Raiders) October 22, 2018
The move leaves the Raiders, who are currently 1-5 under Gruden, with a barren wide receiver corps and little to play for this season.
It will take a while before we know if Cooper or the first-round pick turns out to be the more valuable asset, so for now, we can sit back and watch the internet laugh at a Raiders team that has seemingly done nothing but mismanage and ship out talent since Gruden took over.
Twitter roasts Jon Gruden and the Raiders after Amari Cooper trade
#Raiders Derek Carr, basically. pic.twitter.com/2GMqNcz9Sa
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) October 22, 2018
The Raiders are going to be an incredible team by the time Jon Gruden is back in the Monday Night Football booth.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) October 22, 2018
— Jonathan Feliciano (@MongoFeliciano) October 22, 2018
Fine, I'll say it: Give Jon Gruden an extension.
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) October 22, 2018
Whoa wait a minute, man. I thought you guys said a MINI Cooper @DallasCowboys ?! https://t.co/0HqNUApDTu
— Jon Gruden (@Faux_Gruden) October 22, 2018
Jon Gruden a few days from now: "Great pass catchers are hard to find" https://t.co/jyuCLqsLFe
— Neil Greenberg (@ngreenberg) October 22, 2018
Two actual spiders and a banana https://t.co/bbeApD1nSc
— Patrick Claybon (@PatrickClaybon) October 22, 2018
How Dez Bryant showing up at the Raiders facility pic.twitter.com/4KFEDc4jMH
— Mostly Football (@MostlyFBShow) October 22, 2018
For his final trick, Gruden will trade himself
— Drew Magary (@drewmagary) October 22, 2018
Now, to be fair to Gruden, getting a high first-round pick for one of the most frustrating wideouts in the NFL isn’t that bad of a football move in a vacuum. There’s a good chance it works out for the Raiders, who might have never been able to fully tap into Cooper’s talent.
Since Gruden has walked into the Raiders organization, however, it seems like the only trick he has pulled off is flipping talent for draft picks, rather then developing Derek Carr, finding a way to turn Cooper’s career around or lock down a talent like Khalil Mack.
Until Gruden shows he can actually build up the Raiders into a winning organization in today’s NFL and even partially validate the team’s ludicrously big investment in him, these jokes are going to keep coming.
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