Oakland Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 8 loss to Houston Texans
By Nico Di Fede
Stock Up: Trayvon Mullen, Maxx Crosby
Trayvon Mullen made his first career start at cornerback following the trade of Gareon Conley. He was sort of thrown into the fire as he hasn’t had any meaningful playing time since his rough Week 1 performance, but he played well especially given the circumstances.
On the Texans first offensive play, Mullen played nice man-to-man coverage on wide receiver Kenny Stills running step-for-step with him on a go route, though Deshaun Watson never looked his way.
On the very next play, running back Carlos Hyde got the carry up the middle and Mullen did something former starter Conley struggled with and that is come up and make a tackle in run support.
Mullen shot inside as soon as he saw it was a run and got his hands on Hyde helping defensive tackle P.J. Hall bring him down for the assist.
The next play was 3rd-and-9, and Mullen again was tasked with covering Stills. This time Stills ran an outside slant, and Mullen got too physical when Stills made his break and was called for the hold resulting in a first down.
Mullen was targeted again the next play on a slant route to DeAndre Hopkins that went for five yards. This was a zone play and so Mullen was actually supposed to release Hopkins to the inside, but safety Karl Joseph did not close in fast enough to affect the play.
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On the Texans’ next drive on second down, Mullen gave up another short catch for five yards, this one again in zone coverage. Despite allowing the catch this was good coverage as Mullen was supposed to keep the receiver in front of him and he closed in fast to make the tackle for a minimal gain.
This is the perfect example of why the team moved on from Conley. As a zone corner, you have to be able to tackle since there are certain coverages where you are supposed to keep the receiver in front of you.
This allows for an easy catch, which is okay as long as you make the tackle right away, something Mullen is willing to do.
The next play was 3rd-and-2 and Mullen again was covering Stills on a quick out route. This time Mullen read Watson’s eyes and made a perfect break on the ball, getting his hands on it but ultimately dropping the would-be pick-six.
This only covers two drives in a game where the rookie played 75 percent of the defensive snaps, but he was not targeted the rest of the game and finished targeted just twice for only 10 yards.
The Clemson product already looks like an improvement over Conley and his willingness to tackle makes him a better fit for the defense regardless of whether he really is.
Crosby tallied the most tackles of his career with six this past Sunday and the box score does reflect how he actually looked against the run in this one.
Tackles, of course, do not necessarily, if at all, reflect good play against the run. Crosby also had two tackles for a loss and a QB hit for the fourth consecutive game.
Crosby did commit a costly roughing the passer penalty in the fourth quarter, but with the new rules, even if it is seemingly impossible for a player to hold back on a hit, the flag will still get thrown so it’s hard to blame him too much for that one.