I hope everyone had a great summer, but now it's time to get back into the nitty gritty of shark4sports. If you read the title you already know what I'm talking about. The Blockbuster Khalil Mack trade. As soon as the news became public, twitter, Bleacher Report, and so many other social media sites were on fire because of the trade that took place between the Raiders and Bears. I mean, the Raiders just gave up a future hall of famer, who is debatably one of the best pass rushers the NFL has ever seen. But is there more to it. This is the good and the bad of the Khalil Mack trade.
Oakland Raiders:
Good:
Let's start of the team that made this so called horrible trade, and let's see what the good of this trade for the Raiders is, if there even is one. For giving up Khalil Mack, the Raiders gained two first round pick for the 2019 and 2020 draft. These two players could merge into star caliber players, if the Chicago Bears really don’t improve by Khalil Mack, which is unlikely, but you can’t rule it out. Although these two first round players may not be as good as Khalil Mack, and of course they probably won’t be. Landing a player of Mack’s caliber is unbelievably slim. I mean the raiders just handed away their best player and the DPOY of the 2017 season. But let’s take a closer look and see what the benefits really are.
One of the huge benefits is the money benefits of this trade. Khalil Mack was asking for a contract to be the highest paid player in NFL history. More than Aaron Donald, JJ Watt, Von Miller to name a couple of the best players in NFL history. The Bears gave him a $141 million contract for over a span of six years, which includes $90 million in guarantees with $60 million guaranteed at signing. Just thinking about how the Raiders just gave their coach a $100 million dollar contract, losing on Khalil Mack could provide a huge benefit cap wise.
The Raiders two first round picks won't amount to nearly as much money spent, no matter how high these picks are. Although Mack is an amazing player and he as shown this in is first three games with the Bears, passing on Mack, may lead to benefits, but only time will tell.
Bad:
Well, here we have the bad. I'm sure a lot of people think they already know what is bad, right. I mean the Raiders just lost their best player. How can there be more to it? Well, there is. Not only did they lose their 2x First Team all pro pass rusher.
This has also had a detrimental on the entire Raiders locker room. The whole defense learned from Mack, they got their fight from Mack, and to see their leader on the defense go, you got to imagine what effect it has on the relationship between the Raiders locker room and the front office.
With the Raiders 0-3 and them not being able to stop any NFL offense, the question has to be asked. Could their record be any different with Mack? Chances are, it would be. Through his first 3 games with the Bears, he is absolutely dominating offense. He has taken a Bears team that just won 5 games all season last year and transformed them into title contenders, with 2 wins already.
To really show how dominant Khalil Mack has been this season, and how badly the Raiders may have messed up, check out this unbelievable stat.
Oakland Raiders in first 3 games: 0 wins 3 sacks 1 forced fumble 0 fumbles recovered 1 interception 0 touchdowns
Khalil Mack in first 3 games: 2 wins 4 sacks 3 forced fumbles 1 fumble recovered 1 interception 1 touchdown
Khalil Mack has more wins, sacks, ff, fr, ints, and tds, then the entire Raiders defense. If this doesn't sum up the bad of this trade, I don't know what will. Although there is always a good side of every trade, in this situation the bad clearly outweighs the good.
The Raiders just got to hope that their first round picks can make up for some of the lost value in this Khalil Mack trade, but most likely Khalil Mack will keep dominating for the Bears and possibly take them far in the playoffs as well. The Raiders just lost their best player, well I guess we just have to wait and see what happens.