The Oakland Raiders and star pass rusher Khalil Mack are still nowhere close coming to an agreement on a long-term deal, and the two sides reportedly are not on great terms right now.
And with the news that Aaron Donald has now set a new benchmark for richest contract in NFL history for a defender (details here), many have wondered if Oakland would be even more motivated to try and move Mack in a trade. This is worth pondering because now that Donald has his deal, there’s no way Mack would sign for less, and the Raiders aren’t in a great spot to make that happen.
All that being said, according to Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Raiders have “no interest” in trading their star. Furthermore, the team expects Mack to play in 2018, with or without a new contract extension.
During his holdout, Mack has already incurred some massive penalties. It’s also been reported that he’s girding himself to miss regular-season games this year.
He’s set to make $13.86 million in the fifth-year option portion of his rookie deal, and theoretically the Rams could lock him up the next three seasons running without extending him if they choose to use the franchise tag in 2019 and 2020.
Meanwhile, Donald just hauled in $87 million guaranteed and a $40 million signing bonus. So you can see why Mack would not be inclined to play ball with the Raiders at this time.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this all unfolds. The Raiders need Mack in a big way. He’s racked up 36.5 sacks the past three years and is clearly one of the elite players in this league. Like Donald, who was drafted the same year Mack was, he deserves to be compensated for his efforts.