Raiders’ Jordy Nelson weighs in on 2018 season, Khalil Mack and Derek Carr
Jordy Nelson described the 2018 Oakland Raiders season as “interesting” when the team traded away Khalil Mack before the season and Amari Cooper midway through the season.
Prior to the trades, Nelson signed a two-year $15 million deal with the team last March and expected to play with Mack.
That didn’t happen as the Raiders traded Mack to the Chicago Bears for their first-round picks in 2019 (24th overall) and 2020, third-round pick in 2020 and sixth-round pick in 2019.
Later, the Raiders traded Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys for 2019 first-round draft pick. That will be the 27th overall pick.
“Those two moves right there are more moves than I saw in 10 years in Green Bay,” Nelson said this week in an interview on ESPN Wisconsin. “That was different, especially as talented as they are and the impact they had on the team. (Raiders) have a vision for this team, and what they were able to accumulate with those guys, and we’ll see what happens in couple months with those draft picks. Unfortunately the two teams we traded them to decided to win some football gamest this year and that wasn’t too helpful.”
Nelson, who said he hopes the Raiders stay in Oakland for one more season, described the mood in the locker room after the Mack trade as a “trickle-down effect” that resulted in Oakland finishing 4-12.
“When you’re losing somebody like Khalil, you’re losing his talent and his skills’” he said. “It makes everyone else around him better. Obviously they’re playing for the future and we have draft picks from it. We’ll see how it turns out.”
As far as finding longstanding chemistry with quarterback Derek Carr like he did with Aaron Rodgers, that will probably never happen, he said.
“When I got here, they asked, ‘How long do you think it will take until you and Derek get on the same page as you and Aaron (were)?’ I said, ‘We won’t – ever.’ Because Aaron and I had 10 years together, and Derek and I will not have 10 years together. So that’s impossible. I think it goes both ways. (Rodgers) had to figure out – especially with Geronimo (Allison) and Randall (Cobb) going down and (being) in and out of the lineup – he had to figure those guys out and they had to figure him out. It takes time.”
Anthony Galaviz: 559-441-6042, agalaviz_TheBee
This story was originally published February 22, 2019 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Raiders’ Jordy Nelson weighs in on 2018 season, Khalil Mack and Derek Carr."
