Unser Chat » Those talks evidently went nowhere

Richard Dent Jerseys Stitched , because Sanu is (and will likely remain) here."Chalk this one up under interesting but probably moot at this stage: The Falcons evidently shopped Mohamed Sanu around earlier this offseason, though we do not know how seriously they did so. That comes to us via Michael Lombardi’s podcast and is worth noting because Lombardi, despite a distinctly mixed track record as a personnel man and current evaluator of NFL talent from the outside, remains tightly tied in with NFL front offices and coaching staffs and thus would presumably have this on good authority. Adjust your the grains of salt you take this with according to how you feel about Lombardi. A third round pick is both a reasonable request from the Falcons, given Sanu’s skill and production in Atlanta, and an asking price other teams are unlikely to meet given the value of young, inexpensive players and the way teams use picks as ammo to move up. It’s worth wondering whether the rumored move back into the third round would have featured Sanu, but it’s ultimately moot because the team did not make any trades and it appears unlikely that #12 is going anywhere. With the team at least sort of in win-now world, it makes total sense that they wouldn’t be keen to ship out veteran players Tom Waddle Jerseys Stitched , especially those with value. Why would the Falcons even be interested in doing this? One anticipates that with Calvin Ridley entering his second year, a tight end-focused coordinator and ex-coordinator/current tight end coach potentially finding more opportunities for Austin Hooper and his merry backups, and the team’s stated desire to do a better job running the football, Sanu’s target share in this offense may stand to shrink. The Falcons would likely find his blocking skills, sure hands and third down value difficult to replace with one guy, but chances are they’d have used a combination of Justin Hardy and Marcus Green had they gone this route. Lombardi noted on his podcast that the team has big plans for Ridley, as you’d expect.That said, Sanu is coming off another durable, effective season where he was third on the team in receptions William Perry Jerseys Stitched , second in yards, fourth in touchdown grabs and even second in touchdown passes. This offense has all the personnel it needs to be elite, but removing a key cog like Sanu from the mix would seem to dent that fearsome group, and thus it’s not stunning that the Falcons ultimately decided against it. For now, this is just something to file away, because it seems unlikely at this stage of the offseason that Sanu will be moved. But it’ll be worth monitoring his role in the offense as time goes on, especially with a $7.9 million cap hit and $1.4 million dead money number in the final year of his contract in 2020, to see if it indicates a future move. The message Jon Gruden delivered when he was introduced at a celebratory news conference announcing his second stint as Oakland Raiders coach has changed.After promising in January to deliver Oakland fans two of the best years of football he could before the team leaves for Las Vegas in 2020, Gruden is now preaching patience after three straight losses to open the season. Gruden is feeling the heat that comes with a rough start on the field for a coach with a 10-year contract worth a reported $100 million."It's justifiable Youth Cody Parkey Jerseys ," Gruden said. "I have a pretty good idea of what this business is all about. But I'm also realistic. I'm also very optimistic. I'm going to continue to work hard. I think I have as good a coaching staff as there is in football. The results will happen. It might not happen this week. It might not happen this month, next month, but we're going to get results here and we're going to get this Oakland Raider football team back on track. We just have to prove it."The only thing the Raiders have proven so far in three weeks is that they can stay close even if they can't win. Oakland has led at halftime in all three games before ending up on the losing side, becoming just the second team in 20 seasons to start 0-3 despite leading every game at the half.The Raiders haven't trailed for a single second in the first three quarters all season, falling behind on the final play of the third in the opener against the Rams and then blowing late leads in back-to-back weeks on the road at Denver and Miami. Oakland hosts Cleveland on Sunday.That inability to finish has only been heightened because of Gruden's biggest decision yet as coach. He traded away star pass rusher Khalil Mack to Chicago for a package of draft picks after Mack held out in a contract dispute.That decision only looks worse each week as the Raiders rank last in the league with one takeaway and three sacks, while Mack has four sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and an interception return for a touchdown all on his own."It's hard to trade one of your best players. One of the best players on a franchise," Gruden said. "It's hard. It's hard on the players. We didn't get anything for him that's going to help us out this year. ... We have a lot of guys on the defensive line that are out. We have had to replace basically the entire secondary Cody Parkey Jerseys Stitched , some of the linebackers, and we're in the process of putting the pieces back together."When owner Mark Davis lured Gruden out of the broadcast booth, the hope was that better coaching was all it would take to get the Raiders back to the level they were at when they won 12 games in 2016 鈥?their only winning season since 2002, the year after Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay by late owner Al Davis.But Gruden clearly believed the roster wasn't that close to winning. He spent much of the offseason cutting ties with recent high draft picks made by general manager Reggie McKenzie, and brought in several veterans to fill the holes created by those wasted draft classes he has been quick to bemoan.The results from those veterans have been mixed, with a few good performances like Jordy Nelson's big receiving game in Miami but not much impact overall.The Raiders had been spending the past few years trying to build their team around Mack and quarterback Derek Carr. With Mack traded, Carr is the only pillar remaining and the big step forward the team hoped he'd take under Gruden's tutelage has yet to materialize.Carr is completing 76.6 percent of his passes and averaging 312 yards passing per game. But he is also tied for the league high with five interceptions and has failed to lead the offense to more than 20 points in any game.Carr has been criticized by Gruden for not taking some deep shots to Amari Cooper in the opener, and being overly aggressive on a fourth-quarter interception in the end zone that thwarted a comeback attempt last week in Miami."We're figuring that out together," Carr said of striking the right balance of aggressiveness and prudence.All is not hopeless in Oakland as evidenced by the fact the Raiders have actually been in the lead nearly two-thirds of the time this season. Gruden's offense has some new wrinkles he's taken from closely watching the rest of the league from his time as a broadcaster.He has frequently been able to develop schemes that have receivers open downfield Youth Trey Burton Jerseys , and the Raiders have moved the ball consistently even if it hasn't led to points. Oakland has the sixth-most yards but the fifth-fewest points this season, a dichotomy that stems from the worst starting field position in the league and some red-zone struggles.The defense has looked sound most of the time, but has been burned by a handful of big plays that have proved decisive.Gruden has been around long enough to know that progress means little without results."We have to start putting some wins in the column and that's what Raiders fans want," Gruden said. "That's what we want and that's what we are after."