Browns: 3 Las Vegas Raiders to game plan for
By Chad Porto
Trayvon Mullen
Arguably the best defensive back the Raiders has is Trayvon Mullen. Mullen is a young starter for the Raiders whose in his second year. Mullen does make mistakes from time to time and is in his first year as the Raiders full-time starter at the position, but Mullen is talented enough to cause issues for the patchwork receiver corp that he’ll be facing on Sunday.
Mullen is a sure-tackler, making big plays after the catch unlikely against Mullen, and he has shown a willingness to go up and hit ball carriers. What makes Mullen interesting from a gameplay perspective, however, is his ability to get around on receivers and deflect passes thrown his way.
He currently leads the Raiders with pass-deflections at seven and has shown himself to be capable of hanging with a good number of wide-outs. He may not be Champ Bailey out there but Mullen could cause some disruptions that the Browns will want to keep an eye out for. The best bet to taking Mullen out of the game is to run more screen routes and rollouts to him and force Mullen to walk up against a running back or attempt to cover a longer and taller tight end.