Trading Trayvon Mullen is coming back to bite the Raiders
It’s always tough trying to decide when to stop giving a player chances and move on. The Raiders decided to give up on cornerback Trayvon Mullen right before the start of the 2022 season. He’s with the Arizona Cardinals now, and the trade is slowly coming back to bite the Raiders.
Now, when I say it’s coming back to bite them, it’s more of the Raiders’ lack of depth than Mullen’s performance this season. He’s only been in two games so far for the Cardinals and played in only five games with the Raiders in 2021.
Injuries have bitten him hard over the past two seasons. While he’s only 25, he hasn’t been able to stay on the field and prove himself. But man, in his first two seasons he was really showing potential. Now, the Raiders are currently 1-4 and their secondary is suffering.
Corners Anthony Averett and Rock Ya-Sin are the new additions from the offseason. Both are part of the reason why Mullen is gone. Averett has only played one game and was placed on the IR shortly after. Ya-Sin has also missed a game and hasn’t found a consistent stride yet.
Now yes, guys like Nate Hobbs and even Amik Robertson have been playing well. But outside of those two, the secondary is just too shaky and giving up too many big plays.
The Raiders rank 25th in the NFL in pass defense, allowing 256 yards per game so far. Shutting it down in the red zone has also been a struggle. On Monday Night Football against the Chiefs, they allowed Travis Kelce to score four touchdowns. It wasn’t just the four touchdowns, either. Kelce only had 27 receiving yards yet scored that much.
Injuries and early-season struggles prove that you can’t weaken your depth in a prime spot like your secondary. We haven’t even mentioned how he was sent to the Cardinals for an unconditional seventh-round pick. That’s it? A seventh rounder? I love Dave Ziegler so far, but this one is questionable.
What also bothers me about is the comment that head coach Josh McDaniels made following the trade.
“Again, just trying to do what we think is the best for the team at this point in time,” McDaniels told reporters in September. “We’ve had some guys that have shown up at that position and really done some good things. Sam [Webb] is one of them. Hard choices sometimes you have to make based on total numbers and what you’re going to keep at a certain spot, but just felt like it was an opportunity for us to add something.”
Quote via Sports Illustrated
Not to bash a rookie, but where is Sam Webb then? He’s been in all five games, but his only stats are three tackles in those games. You’re relying on your starting secondary to remain healthy, which it hasn’t. Even for Hobbs, who has suffered a concussion this year. What happens if we lose him longer?
It’s still early. Time will tell if this was a bad trade for the Raiders. But I never agreed with it from the beginning, and with how weak the secondary is right now, we could use all the help we could get.
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