Raiders coach Jon Gruden was in no mood to rehash the Raiders’ trade of Khalil Mack on Wednesday morning, even as his team prepares for a reunion with the Bears’ star outside linebacker Sunday in London.
Still, he claimed that the franchise wanted to keep Mack all along.
“I’m not going to get into all the drama,” Gruden said in a teleconference following his team’s London practice. “We wanted to sign Mack, OK? We didn’t want to trade him.
“I wish him the best. I’m not re-hashing all the drama. We wanted to have him. We couldn’t make it happen.”
Mack held out last preseason and hoped to negotiate a new contract rather than play for a fifth-year option worth $13.87 million. Eight days before the start of the 2018 season, the Raiders traded Mack — along with a second-round pick in 2020 and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2020 — for two Bears first-round picks, a third-rounder in 2020 and a sixth-rounder in 2019.
The Raiders used the first of the two first-round selections on Alabama running back Josh Jacobs, whose 307 rushing yards are a franchise record through the first four games of a player’s career.
“We were able to get a couple draft picks,” Gruden said. “Josh Jacobs is playing well for us and we were able to sign some players in free agency, and we’re going to continue to build our team. Certainly wish Mack the best.”
Gruden then made it clear to reporters he was done answering Mack questions, saying he wanted to answer questions about the game.
Earlier, he praised Mack’s performance in Chicago.
“Not a lot has changed when I watch Khalil play,” Gruden said. ‘He’s a great player. They move around, so he’s hard to find at times. They have a lot of other players on defense that are concerning to us also.
“So he’s a great player, a great effort player certainly, and he’s surrounded on all three levels by talent. And they also have depth. We’re going to have our hands full, that’s for sure.”
The Raiders will have to be “as creative as possible” when scheming ways to block Mack, Gruden said.
“Hopefully [tackles] Trent Brown and Kolton Miller are up to a great challenge,” Gruden said. “We’re not going to underestimate [outside linebacker Leonard] Floyd, either, that’s for sure. We’re not going to underestimate any of these guys. I think [Aaron] Lynch comes in and gives them a rest.
“They have four good rushers and allow him to be at his best when he’s on the grass. It will be a challenge.”
Mack said Tuesday he was trying to “suppressing the emotional side” of the reunion with the Raiders.
“But the other side,” he said, “is to go out and make them pay for it.”
He’s made everyone else pay this season — Mack has 4 ½ sacks and four forced fumbles already. His 12 1⁄2 sacks last year were the most for any Bears player, ever, not named Richard Dent.
“I’m pretty sure he’s probably salivating to go after the Oakland Raiders,” Lynch said. “But I think he salivates, like all of us, to go after everybody else as well.
“I’m just expecting a couple forced fumbles this game.”
