If you’ve been following along for the past several months, you’ve read around here (more than once) that the impact of the Khalil Mack trade was one that sent shockwaves through the Raider locker room, and played a big part in some on the team seeming to roll over after just a couple games.
Ironically, the first player to go on record about the Mack trade was another young star the Raiders parted ways with during the season.
“When Mack got traded it was like a week before opening night,” Amari Cooper said Friday on The Thomahawk Show podcast. “Our first game was on Monday night against the Rams. Their first game, as a Chicago Bear, was on Sunday night so we were able to sit down and watch their game before we went to our hotel room.”
“Obviously everyone knows how he dominated that game,” Cooper continued on Mack. “He had like a pick-six, a sack fumble, another sack. I mean he just wreaked havoc that entire game and guys were kind of looking at the game like happy for Mack but like mad for the organization. So we actually had to have a meeting about what Mack did on that Sunday night. So we played Monday, when we came back Wednesday we had a meeting about that because some guys were just mad, like ‘are they really trying to win here?'”
The full conversation on Mack can be viewed below, but based on Cooper comments, there’s no question that Mack’s trade rocked the Raiders locker room in much the same way it did the fan base.
"Happy for Mack, but mad for the organization."@AmariCooper9 reveals the mood of the locker room when his former team traded @52Mack_ on #ThomaHawk at #SBLIII pic.twitter.com/86lhefWoAJ
— The ThomaHawk Show (@ThomaHawkShow) February 2, 2019
twitter: @raidersbeat
So Cooper and other players quit the team. And you got trade away because you QUIT on our team.
Yup they quit on us! Hope they never win a Superbowl.
No stupid the team ownership and coach quit on you because your city quit on them and that’s why they are leaving for Vegas Bye Bye
No stupid your coach and owner quit on them fool!
You are so stupid! The money was never there to pay just mack!
yea, he went off and they still lost. playoff game, up by 5, get a stop u get the w. what happened? $20M+ a season couldn’t buy a stop. F mack, cooper and all their wack *** fan boys
Poor crybaby you morons are upset at the players but should be whining cause the ownership quit on them dummies
Dumbest comment in the history of comments
Thank you
Mack didn’t want yo leave and interesting enough they had no issue paying Carr or Gruden 🤔 but a guy who was never hurt and produced the entire time he was in Silver and Black could hey the money he deserved… Naw Mack earned his 20M+ and I will tell you this if Mack was traded the Raiders male the playoffs… hate all you want these are just favts
Hey JMack, think you could ck your spelling once in a while.. just a little bro.
Shame on the fan(atic)s who pay out their hard earned money to pay the ridiculous salaries to athletes – who many don’t produce in the end. Think about a $100 million + contract (we can hardly wrap our mind around it).
Who is really worth paying that kind of money? Just saying.. maybe it’s time to stop attending games, etc.
And while we are protesting the ridiculous the high salaries, ticket prices, etc.. how about we protest capitalistic greed, police corruption and brutality, government waste and corruption, abuse of power, etc.
Mack wanted to leave. He held out before Gruden was even hired. No defenseman deserves that kind of money. He can’t win a championship by himself. Ask the Bears
Bears fan here… before Mack, the bears were in “rebuild” mode. .500 team at best. Mack single handedly made the bears a playoff team. And sped up the rebuild by at least 2 years. He even made our average quarterback better by softening up his mistakes. Dont be mad at the players. Be mad at the organization.
Lol Jim k, if Hicks wasn’t on 🐻 s team they wouldn’t make it to the playoffs so I don’t know what the **** you’re talkin about Mack single-handedly took them to the playoffs.
Oakland Raider fan here I have to agree with your comments, we traded the wrong guy without a doubt it should have been Carr, let’s face it he is a mediocre quarterback who does not know how to win because he does not hate losing enough, whenever you hear your quarterback say it’s so hard to win in this league you know he’s a content with losing, you never hear the great quarterbacks say that never.
Yes bc you are paying your QB on a rookie contract… Raiders are not. Cannot compare the two situations.. Cannot pay two guys over 100MM. Bears will see that soon enough.
Qb on a rookie contract. For the bears. They wont be able to sustain the roster they have right now when its payday for the QB and other yound defensive stars. The Raiders couldn’t win with the roster they had. Way too many holes to have the highest paid defensive player in the league and one of the highest paid QBs. And then you have to pay cooper next year for inconsistent pay? Nope. I’ll take the draft picks and go to Vegas with a strong young core If making the playoffs is what you strive for then you’re wrong. Gruden is trying to build a super bowl winning team. Not an AFC west title team.
LMAO, I’d be mad too. I don’t know what they were somking, all I can say is is thank you Gruden. This team won 5 games in 2017. You will be hearing from Chi-town for years to come.
Raiders, the NEW biggest joke in the NFL. Thank you though for your incompetence!
Cooper is the biggest quiter I’ve ever seen in the NFL. Bigger bust than jamarcus russell. At least we got a 1st for that quiter.
Anyone that dislikes or disrespects Mack but likes and trusts Gruden is an idiot. Mack definitely worth $100 million. Both Gruden and Carr got $100 million and one hadn’t won a game in 10 years and the other is damaged goods physically and mentally. The Raiders should have never signed Gruden and never given Carr that contract.
Reading these comments is just funny how people constantly hate. Mack is a beast and the raiders completely disrespected him by trading him and lost the respect of the entire locker room. It’s not often that a player exceeds (rookie contract) expectations, but Mack was able to do that and more and basically we can all agree he’s a Hall or fame talent; he’s a player u build a defense around. The bears were horrific until Khalil Mack arrived. It’s rare that a first round pick lives up to the hype and it’s even more rare to get a Hall of famer with a first round pick so I don’t care how many draft picks they have, Khalil Mack is ray Lewis, LT type LB. and the raiders took a winning team and gutted it for no reason. And as for Amari cooper, do ur thing boy. Roll tide and shout out To cowboy nation and Khalil Mack
Obviously it’s the worst trade Raiders did with good pro bowl caliber players…That surrounded the organization. It’s like trading Brady and he still winning. The whole group would go down spiral.
On the contrary, you gotta question the intention of the Organization when a trade like that is made. We’re talking about, hands down the best player on the team, a future Hall of Fame’r. It’s like seen your boss file the comapany for bankruptcy and at the same time tell their workers that they have a stable future with the company, “just follow suite. Keep working your hardest.” Would you feel the same about work if that was your situation? All Amari was saying is that it was a little disheatening in the lockerroom. Can you blame them? I am a Raiders fan, and still a fan of Mack, and Amari. Why should I hate on them? It is obvious it is not their fault and they are still good players.
The player were obviously affected by the trade of Mack to the Chicago Bears. However, they did not quit on the team. The Raider organization quit on Mack and the team. The Raider organization has been in disarray for many many years. Al Davis, who I loved and who was the reason I became a Raider fan in the seventies made way too many questionable decisions that had a negative affect on the team. Al’s son continues that decision making now. The management decisions are to blame for the rut that the Raiders have been in for way too many years. And Gruden was another bad decision.
All these comments about the raiders who team is in the superbowl. Don’t matter how u feel they all get paid more than us. So who gives a ****!
I like mack. But he had one year left on his contract he decided not to show up.
FYI, Hicks was on the team that went 5-11. They were a top 10 defense but Mack made them elite. Raiders traded a HOF player at age 26 for a chance in the draft?