According to a tweet from Yahoo! Sports' Jason Cole, the Oakland Raiders have traded wide receiver Louis Murphy to the Carolina Panthers.
It once looked like Murphy would be the future at the receiver position for the Raiders after he was drafted in the fourth round out of Florida in 2009. In just his second season in 2010, Murphy led all Raiders receivers with 41 catches and 609 yards.
But this is 2011.
And after productive seasons in 2009 and 2010, Murphy saw his numbers plummet in 2011 with career-lows in games played (11), receptions (15), yards (241) and touchdowns (0).
The bad year came at the wrong time as the Raiders were already in the beginnings stages of creating a logjam at the wide receiver position. Juron Criner, Rod Streater, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Denarius Moore and Jacoby Ford will all be fighting for time at the wide receiver position. The development of some and the potential of others made Murphy expendable.
For more on the deal and Raiders coverage in general, check out Silver and Black Pride.