RAIDERS TRADE STAR TO CHICAGO
Jon Gruden, according to the head coach himself, spoke to Khalil Mack twice while he was a Raider.
A brief introduction when Gruden took the job and a brief goodbye when Gruden traded him. A hello and goodbye separated by eight months between rockstar head coach and rockstar defensive end, a fairytale pairing that we’ll never see.
“The negotiation was what it was. It was tough,” Gruden said Sunday. “It was a long process. We talked about it daily. We made an offer. I don’t believe we were anywhere close to where the Bears were. The Bears made us an offer that we thought was really unique and very, very tough to say goodbye to a great player, but here we are today.
“You can wait it out, you can franchise him, you can force him to play, but we made a decision and we’re going to stand by it.”
The Raiders gave the Bears the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a 2020 second-round pick and a conditional 2020 fifth-round pick for a 2019 first-round pick, a 2020 first-round pick, a 2020 third-round pick and a 2019 sixth-round pick. The Bears then gave Mack a record-setting six-year, $141 million extension. That comes out to $23.5 million per year, $1 million more on average than Aaron Donald’s then-recordsetting deal with the Rams on Friday.
The new highest-paid defensive player in NFL history spoke to Chicago media Sunday for the first time since the stunning blockbuster trade executed by the Raiders a day prior.
Mack, sporting a navy blue polo with the orange “C” emblazoned on the chest, said the last day and a half have been a “whirlwind.”
“I was definitely shocked,” Mack said about being traded. “But you don’t have time to be shocked for long. It’s kind of like, ‘Oh, word, the flight tonight?’”
Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said Saturday the Raiders fielded inquires from over half the league and narrowed Mack’s suitors to teams Oakland thought would have high picks in next year’s draft. Mack was asked what drew him to Chicago.
“To be wanted,” he said. “That’s all it takes.”
It wasn’t a direct dig at the Raiders, but the point re-
mains Oakland didn’t want him enough at the price Mack commanded.
But why not wait and see if Mack would eventually report?
“We have waited,” Gruden said. “We waited and waited and the Rams game was looming. Our feeling was he was not going to report any time soon.”
Mack’s old teammates expressed their own shock via Twitter on Saturday. “No way,” quarterback Derek Carr wrote. Defensive Bruce Irvin did the same, adding a third word that can’t be published here. Gruden explained the decision to the team, but wouldn’t delve into how they reacted.
“You get texts from your teammates — well, your old teammates — and you could say goodbye that way,” Mack said. “You really don’t have that chance. It’s a whirlwind. I got to get in here, learn the playbook, figure out my new teammates, figure out where their heads are at and come here and try to contribute to win.”
Mack called the Raiders a “great, great, great organization” that he really only realized he’d be leaving on Saturday.
With the Raiders, Mack was a three-time Pro Bowler, twotime first-team All Pro and Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged over 12 sacks in each of the last three seasons, and was the missing piece on a revamped Raiders defensive front under new defensive coordinator Paul Guenther.
But alas, Mack only ran into Guenther once in person at a restaurant and never met his head coach in person.
“It happened fast,” Mack said. “I’m blessed and I’m thankful and I’m glad to be here ... I’m itching. It’s been a long time since I’ve played football.”
Mack said when his holdout began, the end goal was to get a new deal. His reaction to seeing Donald’s record-setting deal on Saturday?
“I can’t say it around my parents,” Mack said. “I would say it if my parents weren’t here ... I’ll just say, ‘Dog!’”
McKenzie insisted Donald’s deal had no bearing on Mack negotiations, but Gruden said otherwise. McKenzie also said Carr’s massive contract had no bearing on Mack negotiations, but Gruden said otherwise.
Maybe one thing the head coach and general manager are on the same page regarding is trying to win football games. Gruden has vowed to win for the fans in Oakland with only two years left before the team moves to Las Vegas. But is there really still a winnow mentality after trading your undisputed best player for picks you can’t use until after this season?
“It’s tough,” Gruden said. “It wasn’t my goal to trade Khalil when we got here. One of the reasons I’m here is because
of him. Unfortunately, we had a standoff with a contract, and we could not come to terms. The Bears made us an offer of two first-round draft choices and here we are today. We have to put together a 53-man roster. It’s hard.”
The end result of that evident massive gap between what Mack’s talents demanded and what the Raiders were willing to offer was a franchise cornerstone leaving the only team he’d ever played for, and the Raiders left to replace a generational talent with optimism he’d return now squashed.
“We were at a standoff and something had to happen,” Gruden said. “And here we are.”