Raiders trade Gareon Conley to Texans one day after Packers’ big passing breakout

The Green Bay Packers were a ridiculous passing machine on Sunday, as Aaron Rodgers threw the football all over the field to a multitude of different receivers. The Oakland Raiders were on the receiving end of that performance, as Rodgers set career single-game highs in yards per attempt with 13.8 and passer rating with a perfect 158.3.

One of the members of the Raiders’ secondary who was burned early and often was Gareon Conley, a former first-round pick out of Ohio State. The 24th overall pick in 2017 was in coverage on several big plays, and he has struggled mightily to live up to that first-round billing. This year, he was allowing a passer rating of 108 into his coverage coming into Sunday’s game, which should only increase once advanced stats are posted to Pro Football Reference.

But in the wake of this game, Conley is headed for a new home. According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the Houston Texans have sent a third-round draft pick to Oakland to acquire Conley, a staggering return for a player who may have been headed for the bench. Even more interesting is the fact that the Texans host the Raiders this weekend.

The Texans needed to add a cornerback this week due to injuries to Phillip Gaines and Keion Crossen on Sunday. Conley was apparently the best option, though sending a third-round pick to acquire him seems overly aggressive. The Texans now have only one pick in the first three rounds in 2020 after sending their first-rounder to the Miami Dolphins in the Laremy Tunsil trade and moving their original third-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for running back Duke Johnson (though that trade is conditional on Johnson being active for 10 games). This pick sent for Conley is the third-rounder acquired from the Seattle Seahawks as part of the Jadeveon Clowney trade:

Regardless of the compensation, Green Bay’s passing game surely helped to pack Conley’s luggage out of town on Sunday.