In recent weeks

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E. J. Manuel Jersey , the normally vacuous Peter King of NBC Sports has been a valuable source of information regarding the Raiders’ 2019 draft, as he was present with the team during draft weekend and..." />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 ?Gruden says Raiders loved Kyler Murray but ‘didn’t think about going up to number one’New,250commentsPDTIn recent weeks, the normally vacuous Peter King of NBC Sports has been a valuable source of information regarding the Raiders’ 2019 draft, as he was present with the team during draft weekend and got a lot of inside access that nobody else was privy to. Levi Damien and myself recorded part of a podcast about his first report after the Draft, and today as part of King’s ‘Football Morning in America’ piece he’s recounted more of his conversations with Jon Gruden from draft weekend, this time about how serious the Raiders ever got about the possibility of trading up to the first overall pick to select Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray.“We all loved Murray. That doesn’t mean we were gonna take him. How do you not love his performance, his playing style, what he accomplished? I had a blast with him [when the Raiders worked him out pre-draft in Dallas]. We didn’t think about going up to number one. We did look at [Nick] Bosa, [Quinnen] Williams, but not going to one. We did our homework on the quarterbacks. You gotta know who’s coming into the league at that position. There was a lot of speculation that we were gonna take a quarterback. I kept watching a guy on NFL Network saying we’re going up to get Murray. Then he says we’re going up to get Haskins. Then he says we’re going up to get Lock. We’re trading Carr. I don’t understand it,” said Gruden.The Raiders are known for being a clandestine, secretive organization that doesn’t like to let the media know what they’re doing or their innermost thoughts on anything. Reporters whose job it is to talk about the Raiders can pick up on any tiny bit of information and run with it, such as “the guy on NFL Network” who is clearly Ian Rapoport, clinging to the story that the Raiders were replacing Derek Carr well past the draft’s first round. It’s not really a secret that Jon Gruden loved Kyler Murray, the Raiders worked him out and Gruden had been heard singing Murray’s praises at the Combine. But Mike Mayock and Gruden had maintained all offseason that Derek Carr was their guy, their franchise quarterback, and perhaps the only smokescreen or surprise here is that the Raiders were actually telling the truth.The media doesn’t always, or ever, have to believe what teams have to say. Coaches and front office executives are professional liars, because if you come out and tell the truth you lose any leverage you might have had in negotiations or opportunity. War is deception Marquel Lee Jersey , as Sun Tzu tells us, and every football team is at war with every other team at all times. Sometimes you get the Raiders saying “we won’t trade Khalil Mack” and sometimes they say “Derek Carr is our guy”. It’s great that the Raiders didn’t move on from Carr in a quarterback class as weak as this one, but should Gruden really be surprised that the media didn’t believe him? Next year’s quarterback class will be the best one since 2004, and unless Carr comes out and has an MVP-type season, Gruden had better prepare for the same questions and skepticism as he faced going into the 2019 draft.Raiders fan confidence takes expected dip, but nothing like the nose dive of Broncos fans If you know a Broncos fan, maybe give them a call. Make sure they aren’t on any ledges or near any sharp objects. It was just three weeks ago, they were a mile high on their team. Their confidence level in their team has dropped like a rock off a skyscraper since then.Broncos fans came into the season with 93% confident in the direction of the team. That may seem high, but it’s in line with most fans; thirty NFL team’s fans had confidence levels in the 80’s and 90’s. The only team fans who were below 80% were Washington (76%) and Detroit (68%). Raider Nation came in at 82%.Starting the season 0-3 dropped the Raiders fan confidence to 32%. The OT win over the Browns bumped it up a little bit, but just so the brutal loss to the Chargers could drop them to 19%.That incremental drop seems logical. As does the confidence levels of the Chiefs (99%) and Chargers (58%), who are both coming off wins. The Chiefs, of course, are 5-0 on the season and many are asking whether they are the best team in football. Though the only fans who think they’re better than the Rams are Chiefs fans.Perhaps it’s watching the Chiefs run away with the division with a young star at quarterback. Perhaps it’s the Broncos own journeyman QB or the bad coaching that’s led to them losing three straight. But the Broncos fan confidence is now at 4%. FOUR PERCENT!This for a team that started the season 2-0 after beating the Raiders on a late drive for a game-winning field goal. Now they’re 2-3 and just got destroyed by the Jets with Isaiah Crowell running for 219 yards (!!!) and a touchdown on 19 carries. And Bilal Powel added 99 yards on 20 carries. The Broncos got trampled.That defense was supposed to be the Broncos’ strong point, so giving up that kind of yardage to anyone, let alone a mediocre Jets team, has drained all the hope from Broncos fans. Even less hope than Raiders fans, despite the Raiders having a worse record and losing to them this season already.I guess when you expect too much from the start, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment. That’s why we do our best to keep our readers grounded. Sugar is nice, but it burns away and then you crash hard. Follow @LeviDamien