Jon Gruden defends Khalil Mack trade: ‘We're going to stand by it'

Share

ALAMEDA – Jon Gruden talked to Khalil Mack shortly after he returned to the Raiders as head coach.

Then there was a communication breakdown as the edge rusher withheld services all spring and summer looking for a massive contract extension. Radio silence ended on Saturday, when Gruden bid him farewell.

A hello, then a goodbye eight months later.

That was it after Gruden traded Mack to Chicago for a compensation package that included two first-round picks.

That was not how Gruden wanted to resolve Mack’s holdout. Mack was an attraction when he pondered returning to coach the Silver and Black.

A pact was never close. The Raiders were never going to pay the freight to lock Mack up long term, not with quarterback Derek Carr already playing on a $125 million contract.

So a two-time All Pro, someone Gruden called the Raiders best player, was shipped out of town.

Gruden held a press conference Sunday to address the matter. The first two questions asked: Why now? Why not wait him out?

“We have waited. We waited and waited and the Rams game was looming,” Gruden said. “Our feeling was he was not going to report any time soon…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.”

Gruden understands fans looking to win now don’t love the trade. Future picks don’t help the 2018 Raiders one bit. And the Raiders had so much leverage. Mack was under contract on a fifth-year option worth $13.846 million. He would start missing game checks next week. The Raiders could’ve franchise tagged him twice on expensive pay-as-you-go deals. Even if the situation got tense, the Raiders could’ve traded Mack before the 2019 draft, after the order had been set. If the Bears turn out to be good, those first-round picks won’t be worth as much.

Gruden said there’s no guarantee two first-round picks become available. He had them in a trade offer Friday night and took it.

“We're going to be second-guessed until the cows come home on this. I understand that,” Gruden said. “But, bottom line is, we did do our due diligence, there was a standoff, and he got a great contract from the Bears – a great contract.”

Mack signed a six-year, $141 million contract on Sunday that included $90 million guaranteed. Gruden called that last figure “an astronomical number.”

Again, the Raiders were never going to pay that amount. Gruden conceded financial flexibility played a role in this. Being saddled with massive contracts to two players makes it hard to fill out a roster.

“It’s tough when you have two players that are the highest paid at their positions so the economic part of it certainly weighs in,” Gruden said. “We’ve got free agents on our team that are going to be (up) next year; we’ve got to find a way to bring them back. So you’ve got to field a 53-man roster and there are some implications of having two players making that much money. That’s no mystery to anybody.”

Carr left some money on the table to help the Raiders sign key members of the 2014 draft class. That aided right guard Gabe Jackson’s contract extension, and kept the Raiders on schedule to retain Mack in a year’s time.

The price of doing business went up in that span, and Gruden said Aaron Donald’s $137 million deal agreed upon Friday set up movement on Mack.

“It’s tough trading him. I’ve said that. It’s tough to trade him,” Gruden said. “There’s an economic part of this that is tough. …The Bears came in with a great offer for us. The agent, Joel Segal, did a great job. He stood his ground, and he ended up getting the No. 1 contract in football for a defensive player.”

Gruden spoke at a Raiders rally he set up at Ricky’s Sports Bar six weeks ago and swore he would do whatever it took to get Mack signed up. He sat in front of the press Sunday to explain why he had to let Mack go, and where the 2018 Raiders go from here.

“We’re going to do everything we can to win and put together the best team possible,” Gruden said. “We have a lot of holes, and we have to do what we can to fill them.”

Contact Us