Mack is currently engaged in a contract dispute with Oakland, one that’s expected to last into the regular season. One of the NFL’s best pass-rushers, Mack is scheduled to earn $13.846MM in 2018 before hitting free agency next spring.
Cleveland already boasts one excellent pass-rusher in Myles Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft. But adding a talent like Mack would give the club a truly elite presence on both sides of its defensive line. And Cleveland, which has $61MM in available cap space, has more than enough funds to work out an extension with Mack.
Mack, 27, has been a wrecking ball since entering the league as a first-round pick in 2014. A three-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro, Mack has totaled 40.5 sacks over his first four NFL seasons. In 2017, Pro Football Focus graded Mack as the NFL’s seventh-best edge defender.
Offers are coming in for Khalil Mack, but Tom Pelissero of NFL.com reports (video link) the Raiders are not especially interested in dealing him. But a certain price might bring them to the table.
Some around the NFL believe to start a Mack trade conversation with the Raiders it will take two first-round picks, Pelissero reports. While a team may not get to that level, especially considering any Mack deal would involve a $20MM-plus-AAV agreement with the contract-year pass rusher, offers have come the Raiders’ way.
A team offered the Raiders a first-round pick and another draft choice for the 27-year-old superstar, per Pelissero, and another franchise offered a player in exchange for Mack. The longer this goes, more such proposals could come Oakland’s way.
The Jets are interested in Mack, and Rich Cimini of ESPN.com reports they’ve been monitoring the Bay Area stalemate for a while. Gang Green acquired an additional 2019 third-round pick in exchange for Teddy Bridgewater on Wednesday, strengthening their position in this unique situation. However, if the Raiders make it known they would do a deal, the Jets are serious about acquiring Mack, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweets.
Mack’s shown no intention of relenting in these glacial talks, and Reggie McKenzie doesn’t expect him to. But guaranteed money represents a sticking point for Mack and the Raiders, who would have the option to use the franchise tag on their best player next year. A team that submits such an offer sheet to a tagged player must part with two first-round picks, although tag-and-trade transactions involving lesser compensation obviously represent an option.
For now, Mack remains a Raider, just one who’s been estranged from the Jon Gruden regime since it began.
The Raiders and Khalil Mack have made no progress in contract talks and the All-Pro defensive end is likely to miss regular-season games as a result, sources familiar with the standoff tell Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports. The Raiders open their season on Sept. 10 against the Rams, so the two sides have less than two weeks to turn things around before Mack abstains from meaningful games.
The Raiders have yet to make an offer to Mack, despite his prolonged holdout this offseason. Technically, the fifth-year veteran is tied to his $13.8MM fifth-year option, but Mack is willing to miss out on game checks that are worth more than $800K in order to make a point and force the Raiders into giving him a lucrative extension. Meanwhile, GM Reggie McKenzie does not expect Mack to report to the club until he has a contract in hand.
Apparently, things haven’t improved much since talks first stalled back in February. There have been no meaningful talks between the two sides in months, Robinson hears, and Mack’s side has taken a “pay him or trade him” stance with the Raiders.
Coach Jon Gruden has final say over the matter, but he has not been directly involved with the talks either. Robinson also hears that owner Mark Davis has the flexibility needed to give Mack a lucrative deal with guarantees, despite speculation about the Raiders’ finances. And, the two sides aren’t waiting on Rams star Aaron Donald to sign a deal. Still, with the season fast approaching, the lack of progress between the Raiders and Mack is troubling.
August 26th, 2018 at 4:08pm CST by Dallas Robinson
The Raiders have not “slammed the door” on the concept of trading edge rusher Khalil Mack, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who adds four unknown teams are “seriously” exploring a potential Mack acquisition.
A number of teams have reportedly inquired on Mack, the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year, but it sounds as though a small group of clubs are interested in taking talks to the next level. Any negotiations involving Mack would surely involve at least one first-round pick, but Florio reports Oakland is playing “coy” regarding its asking price.
As of late July, the Raiders hadn’t made Mack an offer. Mack, for his part, could be waiting for Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald to end his holdout and sign a contract making him the NFL’s highest-paid defender, a deal that Mack could then build upon and surpass. Oakland does not expect Mack to report to the club until he has a contract in hand.
Mack, 27, has been a wrecking ball since entering the league as a first-round pick in 2014. A three-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro, Mack has totaled 40.5 sacks over his first four NFL seasons. In 2017, Pro Football Focus graded Mack as the NFL’s seventh-best edge defender.
While the Rams and Aaron Donald continue to engage in dialogue toward an extension the interior defender’s sought for nearly two years, extension talks between the Raiders and Khalil Mack aren’t believed to be progressing.
As of late July, the Raiders reportedly hadn’t made Mack an offer, which is rather odd given the 2016 defensive player of the year’s importance to the franchise. While Vic Tafur of The Athletic notes (subscription required) the team did make an offer in the spring, one Mack rejected, he adds these talks have unfolded at a “glacial” pace. However, Tafur writes neither Mark Davis nor Reggie McKenzie has made it known the Raiders plan to collect the $2MM-plus in fines Mack’s incurred for missing every mandatory Raiders activity this offseason. That would be a step toward the sides salvaging their relationship.
This standoff has dragged on to the point Las Vegas oddsmakers set the odds against Mack being on the Raiders after the midseason trade deadline. Is that the way the 27-year-old defender’s Raiders chapter will end?
Teams are calling the Raiders, some making repeat inquiries, about Mack’s trade availability. The edge rusher-desperate Jets are one of them. Vegas places the Packers — who hold two 2019 first-round picks — as a better bet to employ Mack by November than the Raiders, with the Bears and Jets listed as the other top destinations. A Mack trade would net the Raiders a surely substantial haul, but this franchise for years struggled to find players of Mack’s caliber in the first place.
With Mack being one of the best defenders in Raiders history, an Oakland exit would be seismic. It could signal the Raiders either may not be fully committed to paying for top talent, but the 2016 free agency period featured plenty of Raiders money going into free agents’ bank accounts and the ’17 offseason saw Davis authorize extensions for Derek Carr and Gabe Jackson.
Gruden made comments early this offseason about the Raiders previously a poor defensive team with Mack. While that isn’t inaccurate, given recent Raider editions struggling defensively, removing Mack from this unit would pose a problem for the team’s ability to pressure quarterbacks.
The Raiders guaranteed Carr $70MM, and Tafur notes it is probably going to take more to secure a long-term commitment from Mack. Von Miller received $70MM guaranteed from the Broncos in 2016, but with the salary cap sitting $22MM north of where it was then, it should be expected Mack and Donald are aiming higher. The Raiders’ potential lack of wherewithal to pay Mack that kind of guarantee has surfaced, but nothing concrete’s been reported on that front. But that would raise another set of questions for a franchise that recently accepted a record $750MM in public money to relocate to Vegas.
McKenzie doesn’t expect Mack to report without a contract, but the fifth-year veteran’s tied to $13.8MM fifth-year option. The Raiders have leverage here. And the franchise tag option for 2019 and ’20 exists if the Silver and Black wanted to play this that way, though considering Mack’s held out this long, that may not be a viable path. Considering how bad the Raiders have been for most of the past 15 years, sending off their best player just as the team prepares to leave its original market for a second time would not create the best atmosphere as the Jon Gruden 2.0 era begins.
So, how will this end? Will the Raiders get this deal done? Will Mack cave at the prospect of missing out on a sizable chunk of his 2018 salary? Or, is a divorce inevitable? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts (and possible trade destinations) in the comments section.
Obi Melifonwu did not do much to draw praise from Jon Gruden this offseason, and the new Raiders coach cut bait onReggie McKenzie‘s 2017 second-round pick. The Combine phenom out of UConn struggled to recover from his 2017 hip injury this offseason, and he recently suffered a setback that Vic Tafur of The Athletic notes (subscription required) was related to his hip problem. Melifonwu recently went to see a specialist, and Tafur adds he hasn’t been at the Raiders’ facility in more than a week. If no team claims Melifonwu, officially waived with an injury designation, the Raiders will take a $1.73MM dead-money hit, Tafur tweets. If not, the 6-foot-4 defensive back revert to Oakland’s IR. That is, unless an injury settlement is reached. He adds that neither last year’s Raiders staff nor this year’s were convinced Melifonwu was fully committed to football, believing that was going to result in Gruden cutting ties with him. Melifonwu, though, received first-team reps earlier this month before that setback. Another team could take a chance on him because of the athleticism he showed during his pre-draft workouts.
Here’s the latest out of northern California.
Khalil Mack remains at odds with the Raiders, and SI.com’s Albert Breer does not expect this situation to be resolved by Week 1. Although the Raiders provided hard no’s to teams inquiring about the former defensive player of the year’s trade availability, Breer notes there’s still no progress between the team and Mack. Guarantee structure strikes Breer as an issue, with cash flow serving as a potential problem for the Raiders. Derek Carr‘s landmark extension was heavily backloaded toward the Las Vegas years. Perhaps Mark Davis is trying to do the same with Mack.
Eli Harold lined up with the 49ers‘ starters throughout the offseason, but the now-Lions linebacker didn’t stay on the field during nickel sets and wasn’t a quality special-teamer, per Matt Barrows of The Athletic. Kyle Shanahan and his staff realized Harold wasn’t going to make the team, Barrows notes. Traded for a conditional 2020 seventh-rounder, Harold started for most of the past two seasons. However, his departure leaves just 12 49ers left from the Trent Baalke years. Fellow 2015 draftee Mark Nzeocha took Harold’s place with the starters at San Francisco practice Thursday, Barrows notes. A former Cowboys seventh-round pick, Nzeocha played in 10 games for the 49ers last season but has yet to start an NFL contest.
One of the Baalke-era 49ers, though, returned to the team this week. The 49ers re-signed defensive lineman Chris Jones after Cedric Thornton decided to retire. Jones will see reps at both defensive tackle spots while spending time at San Francisco’s “big end” position as well, DC Robert Saleh said (via Barrows, on Twitter). Jones last played in 2016 for the 49ers, but he started all six contests in which he participated.
The Jets reached out to the Raiders to express their interest in trading for Khalil Mack, Manish Mehta of the Daily News hears. Naturally, the Jets aren’t the only team to ask about Mack – Mehta hears that more than a dozen teams have called, and several of those clubs have reached out multiple times.
The Jets have yet to make an offer, but it’s clear that they are being aggressive in their mission to address their pass rush. Right now, the Jets’ pass rush is arguably their biggest weakness, and Mack is one of the very best in that department.
So far, the Raiders have brushed off the army of suitors. However, as Mack’s holdout nears the 30-day mark, and the season fast approaches, nothing can be ruled out.
The Jets been in the league-wide cellar for sacks in each of the past two seasons, which explains their interest in Mack and Dante Fowler Jr. of the Jaguars. Even head coach Todd Bowles admits that it’s an area that can be improved on.
“Well, we don’t have the name guy,” Bowles said. “We don’t have the Lawrence Taylor, so to speak, but we have guys that work hard and are very tough at the point of attack. You don’t need a name guy. You just need a guy with production. And the production will make the name. Disrupting the quarterback is the big thing as well as setting the edge. We have certain guys that can do a lot of things right now. We’re mixing and matching to get a feel for what guys can and can’t do right now.”
The Raiders’ situation with Khalil Mack continues to feature no movement. There is no end in sight, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, adding the 2016 defensive player of the year will not report in time for Oakland’s second preseason game. Reggie McKenzie previously said he does not expect the superstar defensive end to show up without an extension, so this isn’t unexpected. Mack will incur a fine of $814K by not being with the Raiders for their second preseason tilt, bringing his fine total up to $1.628MM, per Schefter.
Jon Gruden, meanwhile, insists the Raiders are trying to bring Mack back as soon as possible and called the fifth-year Raider “the best player coming off the edge in football.”
“We’re going to try to get him here as soon as we can,” Gruden said during a Sirius XM Radio interview (via NBC Sports Bay Area). “In the time being, you got to move on. You’ve got to get up and go to work. That’s one thing I’m very proud of what we’ve done here. This is a negotiation. Joel Segal is Khalil’s agent. They’ve got their plan. General manager Reggie McKenzie and the people negotiating on our end have a plan. I’m coaching the team. At this time, he’s not here, and we have to focus on what we can control, and that’s just working.”
The 2016 summit between Kaepernick, Elway, Gary Kubiak and Broncos exec Matt Russell at Elway’s house was a “positive meet and greet,” according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com. The Broncos liked Kaepernick coming out of Nevada in 2011, and after the 2016 meeting, Kaepernick believed he was en route to becoming Denver’s next starter. However, he balked at taking a pay cut (one that would have reduced his salary to $7MM). Citing the double-standard for Osweiler — whom Robinson believes stirred up some hard feelings among Broncos execs by spurning them for the Texans — receiving a second chance in Denver and Kaepernick not being considered, the NFL reporter points to this being another checkmark in the Kaepernick-being-blackballed column.
In his first 2019 mock draft, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller has the Broncos selecting a cornerback in Round 1. Although All-Pro Chris Harris remains well-regarded as a Broncos cornerstone, Miller notes some in Denver’s front office aren’t sold on Bradley Roby as a long-term cog. Roby’s entering his contract year. Harris has two seasons left on his team-friendly deal. The Broncos selected Brendan Langley in the 2017 third round, but 2018 third-rounder Isaac Yiadom was the nickelback in Denver’s first preseason game in place of the injured Tramaine Brock.
Whatever the Rams end up paying Aaron Donald, Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com feels that gives the Raiders a price point. But he expects a Mack extension to come in slightly below what Donald ends up earning. With edge rushers on average earning more than their inside counterparts, it remains to be seen if Mack would accept a deal that doesn’t make him the NFL’s highest-paid defender.
The Raiders and star defender Khalil Mackare embroiled in contract negotiations that could result in Mack being traded. If that happens, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com suggests that the Jets should pounce. Gang Green has little pass rushing talent at the moment, and the club has $82MM of projected cap room in 2019, with only one big contract (Leonard Williams) on the horizon. Oakland would demand at least a first-round pick in return, and in addition to negotiating a high-level trade, the Jets would also need to work out a long-term deal with Mack. Those types of deals are difficult to pull off, and it is still unlikely that the Raiders part with Mack, whom they can keep under club control through three more seasons if they so choose. However, if Oakland does begin entertaining offers, Cimini would not be surprised if the Jets are one of the first teams to jump on the phone.
Let’s take a look at a few more rumors from the AFC East:
Jets OLB Lorenzo Mauldin is still around because of New York’s aforementioned dearth of pass rushers, but Mauldin, a 2015 third-round pick, has been dogged by injuries throughout his brief career, and he hasn’t been particularly effective even when he’s gotten on the field. As such, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweets that Mauldin could be cut sooner rather than later, and that New York could let him go with an injury settlement (Mauldin is currently dealing with a leg issue that kept him out of the team’s preseason opener).
In a full-length piece, Mehta says that BrandonCopeland, a former UDFA out of UPenn who signed a one-year deal with the Jets this offseason after missing all of 2017, has been very impressive in camp and has been taking first-team reps over the past few days. Given the Jets’ pass rushing needs, Copeland has a real chance to get plenty of playing time this season.
We have written extensively on Tom Brady‘s new contract with the Patriots in recent days, and the moral of the story is that it looks as if Brady will continue playing through at least the 2019 season, and that the two sides could come to terms on another new deal next year in order to push some of Brady’s increased 2019 cap number into 2020. However, as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets, since Brady and the Pats officially put pen to paper on August 9, 2018, they can’t renegotiate his contract again until August 9, 2019.
Trent Brown, whom the Patriots acquired via trade with the 49ers earlier this offseason, is the favorite to replace Nate Solder as New England’s starting left tackle, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. Brown is eligible for unrestricted free agency next year, so he will have plenty of incentive to perform at a high level.
Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News calls 2018 the most critical season of Bills DE Jerry Hughes‘ career. Hughes’ volatile on-field personality could be overlooked when he was posting double-digit sack totals earlier in his career, but his sack numbers have slumped since he signed a five-year, $45MM in 2015, so the unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are a little harder to stomach. His $10.4MM salary in 2018 is the highest on the Bills, and while Buffalo could have cut him this offseason and saved a little cap room, the team could save $7.5MM by releasing him after the 2018 campaign, so he may need to show a return to his early-career form to stay in Buffalo and earn another $10.4MM next year. For what it’s worth, the Bills think Hughes’ sack numbers will be improved with the addition of Trent Murphy and (hopefully) some growth out of Shaq Lawson. Plus, Hughes did grade as a top-10 run defender (among edge players) last season, in Pro Football Focus’ view.
The Bills shook up their defensive line rotation earlier today.
There’s no end in sight for Khalil Mack‘s holdout. The defensive end won’t report to camp in advance of the Raiders’ preseason game on Friday night, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). By staying away, Mack will be fined $814K, per the terms of the CBA.
While fellow elite defender Aaron Donaldhas been in active negotiations with the Rams, the Raiders yet to present Mack with an offer. As important as Mack is to the Raiders’ front seven, the team has not given any indication that a new deal is on the horizon.
The Raiders, in theory, can control Mack via the franchise tag in 2019 and again in 2020, but it’s a costly proposition that would put them at odds with the defensive end. The club’s preference is to negotiate after the 2018 season, but that’s not what Mack wants, and he may be willing to miss regular season games to express his dissatisfaction.
