This week the Raiders did the unthinkable.  They traded away the cornerstone of their defense, one of the best players in the league, a once in a lifetime talent.

Khalil Mack was the Raiders 1st round pick in 2014 out of the University of Buffalo.  He had played in all 64 games since becoming a Raider and racked up 40.5 sacks in the process.  He’s a game wrecker.  He wrecks havoc on opposing offenses because you have to plan for him.  You have to know where he is on every play.

Prior to this off season everyone felt it was a no-brainer that the Raiders would re-sign Mack and make him the highest paid defensive player in the league.  After the recent contracts received by Von Miller and J.J. Watt, many thought that was gonna be the standard market rate for defensive linemen of that caliber.  We all expected Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack to receive those $100+ million deals.  But something very strange happened along the way.

When Jon Gruden took over the reigns in his return to Oakland, things started looking a little different.  He immediately made contact with franchise QB Derek Carr, but strangely, there was no contact with Mack.  Why not reach out to your star defender, and former Defensive Player of the Year?  Seems odd.

Camp opens and Mack holds out.  He wants a long term deal, and reportedly wants to remain in Oakland.  Meanwhile, Aaron Donald is holding out in L.A., and the belief is that the two camps are waiting each other out to see who’s gonna blink first.  Well, preseason ends and there’s a break through in the Donald negotiations.  He gets the bag!  6 years $134 million.

The expectation is that Mack will get something similar, or even a little more.  But then the unthinkable happens.  We wake up on September 1st and see that Mack has been traded to the Chicago Bears for 2 first round picks.  So what happened?

According to sources, the Raiders made an offer in February somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million per season.  Mack’s camp made a counter offer that was so huge, the 2 sides entered a 6 month stalemate.

When it’s clear that a guy isn’t gonna sign, and is willing to miss games, there’s really no choice but to cut your losses at that point.  But I don’t think the Raiders respected the value that they had in a player like Mack.  If the Rams can pay Donald and Gurley, surely the Raiders could afford to pay Carr and Mack.  Based on what I’ve seen and heard, I just don’t think enough was done to pay this guy his worth.

It’s gonna sting, it’s gonna hurt.  As Gruden said, the Raiders will be 2nd guessed until the cows come home.  If the defense sucks, and the Raiders miss the playoffs again this season, the whispers will get louder and louder.  I hope Gruden and the Raiders organization know what they’re doing, the NFL world will be watching.