Who’s responsible for the Khalil Mack trade? Was it really a collaborate effort among Mark Davis, Reggie McKenzie, and Jon Gruden, or was it another case of Gruden calling the shot?
The Mack trade essentially changed the landscape of the organization, so surely the decision didn’t come solely from the head coach, right? Well, according to NFL insider Jay Glazer, that’s exactly what happened.
“McKenzie was not the one who traded away Khalil Mack,” Glazer wrote in The Athletic this week. “That was not on him, that was on Gruden. Reggie is a guy who has a lot of respect in the NFL and among his peers, but his power has obviously been taken away by Gruden, who is now the end-all say-all in Oakland.”
Interesting about Glazer’s statement, it sounds like McKenzie probably wasn’t on board with the idea of trading Mack (an idea that’s been floated around a lot in the past month), and given his experience as a general manager, McKenzie never would have chosen the least opportune time to deal his former (and probably soon to be again) defensive player of the year.
The question now is, who else among McKenzie’s draft picks is going to get a pink slip out of Oakland? First-round pick Karl Joseph can’t seem to get a chance with Gruden and it’s beginning to look like Gareon Conley (another first round pick) is losing his.
Good times in Oakland, for sure.
twitter: @raidersbeat
are forgetting about guenther liking old players too (2 heads think alike) and cable’s zone blocking mess with heavy power blockers that mackenzie was building.
this is like starting over; notice how the old seasoned experienced players are getting burned more and more, however they know how to play – just can’t play.
Honestly Reggie hasn’t do e much of a good job in his spot. Coaches didn’t pan out, free agents didn’t pan out, high contract to players who aren’t with us anymore or not their worth and for draft picks. Just three good ones he can lay claim to. Jackson, Carr and Mack. I like what Gruden has done and is doing. He will learn and adapt. Just like Joe Gibbs did.
Gruden wasn’t the one who drafted Joseph, Conley, Hayden, Edwards Jr, Melifonwu, Bergstrom, Ward, Vanderdoes, Calhoun, Walford, Burris, Sharpe, Cook, Watson, S. Moore, T. Wilson, Feliciano and McGill, all in the first four rounds, since 2012. That’s 18 players. That’s 18 early picks that were completely blown. That’s almost enough players to field an entire offense and an entire defense. When you miss on that many picks, you have to become overactive in the free agency market to replace all of your drafted players who can’t play. When you do that year in and year out (the team signed over 20 free agents this year), it doesn’t take long before your salary cap situation becomes upside-down. Add in a $125 million contract for Derek Carr and sink $113.5 million into your starting OFFENSIVE GUARDS (!), and you don’t have the money to re-sign the best player this organization drafted in the last 20 years.
Gruden didn’t create this mess, McKenzie did.
Gruden just walked into it.
Its heart breaking , to see Mack, go and probably the biggest distraction to the teams base and foundation.Its a business, so draft , coach well Just Winbaby
That was the biggest blunder by John Gruden
to trade his best defensive player for a couple
of 1st round draft pick defense wins
championships ask John Gruden when the
Raiders and Tampa Bay me and the
Buccaneers beat the Raiders 48-21 and Rick Gannon threw 5 or 6 interception I think Gruden should be traded for 1st round pick
he is not worth signing 10 year 100 million
Contract If he is fired after 2 years Mark Davis
has to eat $70 million he has completely
destroyed the Raiders team he should Retire