BAD NEWS BEAR
Unwilling to meet Mack’s demands, Raiders trade him to Chicago for draft picks
ALAMEDA >> The Raiders traded their best player, sending Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears on Saturday.
Here are the full details of the trade: The Raiders are giving up Mack, a 2020 second-rounder and a conditional 2020 fifth-rounder in exchange for a 2019 first-rounder, 2020 first-rounder, 2020 third-rounder and 2019 sixth-rounder. The Bears are also giving Mack a six-year, $141 million extension with $90 million guaranteed and $60 million guaranteed at signing, per ESPN. The deal comes out to $23.5 million/year, which is $1 million more per year than Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald received Friday in his new contract and the new richest defensive deal in NFL history.
More than half the league inquired about trading for Mack, Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie said, and the Raiders narrowed down the suitors to ones they thought would pick
THE DEAL
Raiders get from Bears: First-round selections in the 2019 and 2020 draft, the sixth-round selection in 2019, third-round selection in 2020.
Bears get from Raiders: Defensive end Khalil Mack, the team’s second-round pick in 2020 and a 2020 conditional fifth-round pick.
high in the 2019 draft.
“My whole thought process was to get Khalil in here,” McKenzie said. “It was here at the end, in the final hour, that it hit. It hit hard and heavy. It was not the plan to trade him at all.”
The two sides were never close on a deal, and the last offer Oakland made to its star defensive end came before the start of the league year on March 14. Asked if McKenzie was open to trading Mack all along or if this move was Jon Grudendriven, McKenzie said:
“All of us, Gru, myself, everybody in the organization wanted Khalil to be a Raider. We presented him with an offer, and we got that counter back, talked about it . . . what they were demanding, it just wasn’t going to work.”
Mack hadn’t reported to the Raiders yet amid a holdout, as he was seeking a long-term extension entering the fifth year of his rookie contract. Mack was set to make more than $13.8 million in 2018, but agent Joel Segal and Mack felt he should be compensated as one of the best defensive players, if not the best, in the NFL.
Donald pulled in the richest defensive deal in NFL history Friday, when he agreed to a six-year extension worth $135 million with $87 million guaranteed. That’s an average of $22.5 million per year, which Segal wanted to top for his client.
The Raiders evidently weren’t willing to go that high, and are now moving on from the player they drafted fifth overall in 2014.
“You want to have your best player here,” coach Gruden, who speaks at 5 p.m. today, said on Aug. 15. “This guy is really a great guy, too. I’m disappointed we don’t have him here. Going to try to get him here as soon as we can. In the time being, you got to move on. You’ve got to get up and go to work.”
Veteran Tank Carradine had been the first-team defensive end opposite Bruce Irvin in Mack’s place, with rookie Arden Key showing he’s a prominent piece for the future defensive line. Well, the future is here sooner than anyone thought it would be not long ago, and the third-rounder out of LSU will have some big shoes to fill in his debut season.
Mack, 27, won defensive player of the year in 2016. He made three Pro Bowls in his first four seasons and was named a first-team AllPro in 2015 and 2016. He established himself as one of the game’s best pass rushers, if not the best, and gave the struggling Raiders hope for the future.
In the last three seasons, Mack has recorded sack totals of 15, 11 and 10.5. The Raiders were among the worst teams in the league last season in taking down the quarterback, hence they moved Irvin to defensive end and drafted Key, defensive tackle P.J. Hall and defensive tackle Maurice Hurst.
“I think it’s fair to say that we would all love to have Khalil here,” quarterback Derek Carr said during training camp. “If I tried to answer it politically correct and all those things, we all know that we want him back. We all know that when it comes to how things are done and all of that, I don’t go to that. I have been in contact with him. He’s my brother. We came in the same class. We’re going to leave together some day. I’m fully confident with where Khalil is at and where our team is at. Obviously we want him back, but again I try not to step into that. He was over at the house and we didn’t talk about it one time. We played pool basketball and I dunked on him.”
Mack was loved in the Raiders locker room, and you have to think no players will be happy with this move, regardless of what the Raiders got in return. The fan base is certainly incensed with Gruden, but this was clearly a mammoth offer he and the Raiders couldn’t refuse after they weren’t willing to pay Mack as much as the Rams paid Donald.
Irvin tweeted Saturday morning, “No (expletive) way” about his fellow defensive end’s reported trade, before following up that tweet with, “What a shock. Now move on and win.. time to beat the Rams!!” Carr tweeted, “No way,” as well.
“It’s going to sting with them, as players protecting themselves,” McKenzie said. “That’s the way it should be. They’re going to miss Khalil. I’m going to miss Khalil. We’re all going to miss Khalil. Let’s make that point known now. But we all will move on also.”
McCarron lone backup to Carr after cuts
Asked after a win against the Packers on Aug. 24 if he thought his backup quarterback was on the roster, Gruden replied, “I don’t know,” before saying he’d see which quarterbacks are available.
Well, apparently the Bills were willing to make AJ McCarron available. The Raiders sent a 2019 fifth-round pick back East for McCarron, who now serves as Carr’s lone backup. The Raiders waived Connor Cook and released EJ Manuel, less than two days after the latter completed 18 of 22 passes for 255 yards and three touchdowns in the preseason finale against the Seahawks.
Bryant among notables let go
Martavis Bryant never played in a game for the Raiders, who cut the talented but inconsistent wide receiver Saturday. ESPN first reported that Bryant violated the NFL’s drug program again this offseason and the league plans to suspend him.
Clearly the Raiders wanted none of that, and nothing to do with a receiver Gruden called the “White Tiger” for how infrequently he showed up. The Raiders traded a thirdround pick in April’s draft for Bryant, and now they have neither.
Mario Edwards Jr. never quite lived up to his second-round billing after the Raiders selected him there in 2015. Edwards began the preseason as a starter on the defensive line, but impressive rookies Maurice Hurst and P.J. Hall pushed him off the roster.
The Raiders parted ways with Edwards, who suffered too many injuries to string together consistent success.
Now the Raiders won’t roster their second-round picks from 2013 (Menelik Watson), 2015 (Edwards), 2016 (Jihad Ward) and 2017 (Obi Melifonwu) this season.