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 Derek Carr Jersey White ,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, 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.The result proves his point, if even perhaps that it was a self fulfilling prophecy. 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 Jon Gruden had a clear roster-building strategy going into the 2018 season with the Oakland Raiders, and that was to fill the roster with cheap veterans who would help him and defensive coordinator..."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Raiders StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Raiders NewsYahoo Raiders Team PageYahoo Raiders ReportYahoo Raiders Depth ChartYahoo Raiders TransactionsYahoo Raiders PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕Raiders sport one of NFL’s youngest rosters after having oldest group in 2018New,41commentsPDTShareTweetShareShareRaiders sport one of NFL’s youngest rosters after having oldest group in 2018Kirby Lee-USA TODAY SportsJon Gruden had a clear roster-building strategy going into the 2018 season with the Oakland Raiders, and that was to fill the roster with cheap veterans who would help him and defensive coordinator Paul Guenther implement their systems. This resulted in the Raiders having the oldest 53-man roster in the NFL, That’s not a long-term strategy and never was designed to be, and it was been totally turned upside-down this year as the current Raiders roster is incredibly young Bo Jackson Jersey , with an average age of 25.35 years (yes, I did this math myself thank you very much).For reference, the youngest team in the NFL last season after the 53-man cuts was the Cincinnati Bengals, who were on average 25.2 years old, and the Browns came in second with an average age of 25.3 years old, identical to the Raiders’ current 90-man roster. The Raiders’ average age in 2018 was 27.4, which was nearly six months older on average than the 31st oldest team, the Atlanta Falcons whose average age was 26.9.Oakland also had the oldest team in 2014, with a veteran lineup surrounding rookies Derek Carr and Khalil Mack for an average age of 27 even, but made the playoffs in 2016 with the 13th-youngest roster of 26 years even on average.The Raiders are mostly made up currently of players 27 years old and younger, and have only six players over the age of 29 on their roster, one of whom is the long snapper, Andrew DePaola, and none of whom are over the age of 31. week roster included aged veterans Donald Penn, Reggie Nelson, Jordy Nelson, Marshawn Lynch and several other players who were long in the tooth. The only Raiders over the age of 29 who are expected to be major contributors this season are Doug Martin and Antonio Brown, both of whom are 30 years old. Rookies Josh Jacobs and Maxx Crosby are still 21, while Johnathan Abram and Clelin Ferrell are 22. All four are expected to see plenty of playing time and be major factors in 2019.The roster won’t stay this young after cutdown day to the 53-man roster. Several of the rookies and players under 23 years old won’t make it or will be placed on the practice squad, and that will skew the average a bit higher. But some of the older players might not make it either, and it’s unlikely, mathematically speaking, that the average age of the Raiders will be over 26. That will still make them one of the youngest teams in the league and on paper one of the teams most set up for long-term success.