On April Fool’s Day Bo Jackson Jersey White , Raiders quarterback Derek Carr apparently was in no mood for joking.On the same day coach Jon Gruden, who has publicly pledged allegiance to Carr, worked out quarterback Kyler Murray — and a day before Gruden was due to work out quarterback Dwayne Haskins — Carr tweeted without comment a photo of himself doing the Robert DeNiro “watching you” gesture.Many have connected Carr’s tweet to the team’s due diligence, a very public gesture that should, if Carr truly is bothered by the situation, include a private effort by Carr to ask Gruden directly what he’s trying to do in kicking tires on Murray and Haskins. Maybe Gruden is simply evaluating the players so that, if the opportunity to trade down presents itself, he’ll be able to make a persuasive argument for getting more than the team looking to move up may offer.Of course, what Gruden says to Carr may not matter much. He had a reputation among Buccaneers players of saying one thing and doing another, and Gruden has every right to fully and completely support Carr until the moment Gruden no longer does. That’s what plenty of other coaches and teams routinely do.Gruden didn’t pick Carr. Gruden inherited Carr. And Gruden is trying to make it work. Gruden needs to make decisions in the best interests of the team. If that means making a decision to move on from Carr (or, for now https://www.raiderslockerroom.com/authentic-derek-carr-jersey , drafting his eventual replacement), that’s what Gruden needs to do. Last week Amari Cooper appeared for an interview with Pro Football Talk. Initially host Mike Florio just put out that Amari Cooper had set his goal for this season at 2000 yards receiving — which..." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesSilver And Black Pride homepageHorizontal - WhiteSilver And Black Pridean Oakland Raiders communityFollow Silver And Black Pride online:Follow Silver And Black Pride on TwitterFollow Silver And Black Pride on FacebookLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchSilver And Black Pride main menuFanpostsFanshotsRaidersOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Raiders StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Raiders NewsYahoo Raiders Team PageYahoo Raiders ReportYahoo Raiders Depth ChartYahoo Raiders TransactionsYahoo Raiders PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕Amari Cooper: In order to ‘flourish’ in NFL ‘I needed to be gone’ from OaklandNew,157commentsPDTLast week Amari Cooper appeared for an interview with Pro Football Talk. Initially host Mike Florio just put out that Amari Cooper had set his goal for this season at 2000 yards receiving — which we found a bit funny considering no receiver has ever had that many receiving yards and Cooper has never come anywhere close to it.Coop said a lot more than that, however, a good portion of which was about why Oakland was not the place for him making his trade to Dallas a welcome one. The release of that interview we initially missed, but the Dallas Morning News picked up this past weekend.One thing I have long said of Coop is that he has a lot of potential he was just not reaching. He never seemed happy in Oakland. It showed in his lack of aggression on the field, his frequent disappearances from games, and in his demeanor off the field.Following his trade, I instantly lauded it as a win for the Raiders. Soon after seeing how he was playing his best football in Dallas, it was clear it was a win for both sides of the trade. The Raiders got a first round pick and the Cowboys got the best version of Coop the Raiders were not getting. The question was whether this was Coop’s fault or the Raiders for not using him properly. I’ll let him tell it.“I think the change of scenery was really necessary,” said Cooper. “I really Derek Carr Jersey White , honestly, don’t think if I would’ve stayed with the Raiders last season that I would’ve been able to flourish and reach some heights that I was able to reach as a Cowboy. So, it was definitely necessary.“I don’t think it was a good fit for me. I don’t think I was really able to showcase my skills there for whatever reason, I’ll call it extenuating circumstances. But for whatever reason, I wasn’t able to reach my heights and I kind of knew that I needed to be gone in order to do some of the things that I wanted to do as an NFL player.’Coop’s best season was his second season in 2016 in which he went for 1153 yards. After that his numbers took a tumble. Down to 680 yards in 14 games in 2017 and on pace for another career low in 2018 with just 280 yards in six games. In those first few games Cooper said he knew he would need to leave in order to reach his potential.”I felt like there are things that I wanted to do out there on the field during the games, certain plays that I wanted to be called and certain routes that I wanted to run that just weren’t a part of the game plan,” said Cooper. In nine games with the Cowboys, Cooper saved his season and put up a career best 80.6 yards per game to surpass 1000 yards on the season and ultimately head back to the Pro Bowl for the third time in four NFL seasons.Last season was the honeymoon for Coop in Dallas. That will probably extend into this season. And at some point in the next 8 months, that will mean a new big time contract. Good for him and for the Cowboys if that comes to pass. That’s the best place for him. Oakland wasn’t that place regardless. The Raiders will hope their selection of Johnathan Abram at the 27 spot from the Cowboys makes it more worth it to them as well as Antonio Brown is more worth number one receiver money.Follow @LeviDamien