As contract negotiations between Khalil Mack and the Raiders continue to progress to exactly nowhere, there has been no shortage on commentary about those responsible (whomever that may be) for Mack’s holdout, which is about to enter it’s third week.
Based on social media polls (about one every seven days on @raidersbeat), a little more than two-thirds of voters say that the majority of the fault lies within the organization. So far, those numbers have remained consistent, with no shift in either direction as Mack’s holdout moves deeper into the preseason.
One person particularly familiar with the Raiders voiced her opinion on Tuesday and seemed to agree with the fan masses. Former Raiders CEO Amy Trask is as perplexed as anyone about Mack’s contract extension, or lack thereof, and clearly blames the team for not getting Mack’s deal done before now.
“Three things go into signing a player, other than your evaluation of him, but assuming you want the player on your roster: salary cap, cash, and cash flow.” Amy Trask said on Tuesday. “Well, what do we know about the salary cap? It’s nothing more than a system of accounting, so get yourself some good cap accountants and if they are good at what they do, they can figure this out. The salary cap should not be an impediment if you have good cap accountants.”
As for cash and cash flow, Trask isn’t buying either as a good excuse to avoid signing Mack.
“The Raiders, I read today, I apologize if this number is not exact, spent about $55 million on a variety of players over the course of the offseason. Well, did you not budget for Khalil Mack? And number three: cash flow. You know what, cash flow can be handled based on timing of payments, not amounts.”
“Did you not budget for Khalil Mack?” @AmyTrask tells @AdamSchein that she’s perplexed by the Raiders & Khalil Mack #T2S pic.twitter.com/LRjLy0zrnF
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) August 14, 2018
Essentially, Trask says the cap isn’t a good reason to ignore Mack’s contract and neither is cash flow, since payments can be moved around to different dates. And based on her comments, it seems like she’s wondering if the Raiders don’t have the cash on hand to pay a massive signing bonus.
It does also sound like Trask believes the Raiders shouldn’t have handed out all the offseason contracts if they couldn’t afford to extend Mack in the process. But Mack is under contract for another year and if a contract can get done between now and next year, all should be well that ends well.
twitter: @raidersbeat
She’s an outsider now. Sorry Amy your time HASBEEN over. Let them tell the stories of your glory days as they pasty your picture frame in the hall of legendary RAIDERS. But until then STFU!
NO GREGGY you STFU ! She is one of the most respected Raider Alumni around. When she talks the Nation listens. She was CEO , a woman CEO in a mans world. What the hell have you been ?
Dude, she can yap her *** all she wants! Let her go sit in a bar with Papa and anyone else whining about not being a part of this org anymore. & who the **** says she’s the most respected? you…? Joke, you must be a chick. I don’t know when she became more popular before or after she was released, do you? Jack-***! She’s not close to one of the most respected Raider Alumni, she’s just the only chick. You better call a boat load of Raider Players and HOF’rs and let them know that oh, so respected Amy is in town. A woman CEO in a mans world?!. where have you been you fuckin’ clown ?? oh I see in front of your dumb *** t.v. watching your favorite Dolly Parton flick 9 to 5 I bet, LOL while buy’n up all the b.s. that they sell you. F’n clown and you would go all, “Greggy”. Pull your pants up butt clown one of Amy’s respectful admirer’s is checkin’ your ***!
Agree! 💯
Ticket prices will have increased by at least 50% by the start of the 2020 season. If Mark “The Haircut” Davis’ barber raised his price 50% to $6 per cut, Mark would lose his lunch. With those type of price increases, a new Mack contract should be cake.
This will get done. The Raider have planned for this and they know what they are doing. Mack’s getting some rest and the new guys get some playing/practice time.
To quote Susan Walker (Natalie Wood) from Miracle on 34th Street:
“I believe… I believe… It’s silly, but I believe”.
Amy, you are right on the money with your statements. I wish Mark would understand that letting you go was definitely a mistake. Al surrounded himself with people that really new their jobs. Not discrediting Reggie’s capacities, he understands talent, but I don’t believe he is qualified to handle the cap. I really appreciate all you’ve done in your time with the Raiders, wish Mark would realize his mistake and bring you back on board. I know if you had been there we’d have a new stadium in Oakland.
she’s cute huh bob?
Wrong on Reggie, right on the money with Amy. You can’t say Reggie doesn’t know how to balance the cap. Do you remember what the cap looked like when he took it over? Reggie fixed that in short order and has managed it pretty well since then. They have budgeted for it. Reggie has always said, he will negotiate with players IN camp, just look at last year with the Penn hold out. Khalil will report around week 3 or 4 of the preseason and the deal will get done.
All Reggie did was make cuts to the cap. That wasn’t very hard to do. Anyone could have came in and clean house. What would be impressive if he made cuts and we were still competitive.
Where was Amy when Al was creating the mess Reggie inherited?
Memories are short. When Amy and Al left the Raiders cap situation was the worst of any team in NFL history. Mackenzie fixed the mess.
Memories are short. When Amy and Al left the Raiders cap situation was the worst of any team in NFL history. Mackenzie fixed that mess.
Track was with the organization long enough to know very well how these things operate. I personally believe that Oakland over spent and don’t have the money to pay Mack’s signing bonus at the price he’s likely asking. He’s one of Reggie’s guys. It’s not like they inherited him from another regime.
Some may recall that this offseason, when Reg was asked about Khalil’s contract, he said ” we’re prepared to handle that situation. It’s not a concern. ”
By that time, the team already had a good idea of what Mack was asking for. Reggie gave the same answer right before the draft when asked again. My question is, if you knew the ballpark Mack was looking for and told the media twice that it was no problem and that you were prepared to handle the contract, why is this even a topic of conversation for anybody? Unless you no longer have the money or didn’t to begin with…
Reggie kept us with ample cap room. We hire(d) Gruden & all of a sudden cap room is an issue. Look at some of the guys who we signed & the structure of their contracts (Spotrac is a good website to do this). We must’ve believed Khalil would just be a team/company guy & not hold out for what he is actually worth. New regime in place here Nation, & maybe Mack isn’t part of their vision for the Raiders.
They’re waiting on Aaron Donald to sign to know the exact number
The salary cap came in 1994-ish and was a different animal then. The Raiders also had a different approach. ANY body on this board or it’s writers think that they know even one tenth of what Amy Trask knows about salary cap, players, coaches or even the sport itself are crazy and not fooling any of us. Not sure where the spite is coming from but she’s one of the best Raiders that has ever been on the team, ask any players, coach or management. They’ll tell you. Or anybody in football at all.
I think the issue is long-term cap health. You have to pay your QB big bucks if you have a winner, but can you afford to pay a non-QB similar money and still field a consistently competitive team? Mack is on the road to the HOF and more DPOY awards if he stays healthy – which there is no reason to think he won’t – but that doesn’t mean it is in the team’s long-term best interest to give him what other teams will pay him.
Is Mack worth $20+ million more than taking a flyer on someone like Arden Key? Key doesn’t have to be as good as Mack, just a little above average combined with a better interior pass rush. $20 million represents a lot of supporting cast players that can’t be signed to make the team better.
Some will argue that FAs won’t want to come here because the Raiders won’t pay them once they are in a position to command big salaries, but I disagree. That is only an issue if we don’t give him a contract and then tag him twice. FAs won’t penalize the Raiders if they trade him in his a prime to a team that wants to pay him now, rather than three years down the road after some potential injuries.