Four years ago, the Raiders were in the midst of trying to sign All-Pro pass-rusher Khalil Mack to a long-term deal. He was not interested and the Raiders were ultimately forced to trade him away to Chicago.
Since then, the Raiders have had one of the worst pass rushes in the NFL. But they are hoping that changes this season with the acquisition of Yannick Ngakoue and the improvement from Maxx Crosby and Clelin Ferrell. Still, that didn’t prevent them from trying to acquire another big-name rusher, namely Khalil Mack.
According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the Raiders did call the Bears this offseason about a possible reunion with Mack. Here is just a small snippet from an excellent piece by Tafur on the potential trade:
“But before they did, they made a phone call, league sources said. Would the Bears be interested at all in trading Mack back to the Raiders?
The Bears had significant salary-cap issues — which forced them to release All-Pro cornerback Kyle Fuller and restructure several contracts — and the Raiders thought it was worth a shot. The Bears were not interested, sources said, and the Raiders went ahead and signed Ngakoue to a two-year, $26 million contract.”
It was certainly a long shot that this deal would ever get done, but it’s worth calling if you are Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock. Mack is still one of the best pass rushers in the NFL and would have fit Gus Bradley’s defense perfectly. It doesn’t appear any compensation was discussed as the Bears likely weren’t interested in trading their best player for any price.
While the trade for Mack ultimately didn’t come to fruition, the Raiders are still really excited about their pass rush and defensive line depth. It should be a much-improved unit that is deeper than ever. Having said that, it would have been pretty cool to see Mack wearing the Silver and Black one more time.
