On Monday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport brought the expected news that Khalil Mack isn’t planning to attend the Raiders first mandatory team activities beginning on June 12.
The #Raiders are not expecting star DE Khalil Mack for mandatory minicamp this week, sources say. That makes him an official holdout as he seeks a lucrative contract extension. A strong stance for the player who has averaged 12 sacks over the past 3 seasons.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 11, 2018
Not only is Mack’s absence not a surprise, it really isn’t a particularly strong stance considering the maximum fine he can accrue is $84,000.
The popular narrative this offseason has been that Mack’s “holdout” wouldn’t begin until he missed a mandatory team activity, but considering Mack’s status as one of the team leaders, his holdout began as soon as he missed voluntarily activities. His value to the team has always been much greater than a series of fines.
That isn’t to suggest Mack is doing wrong by holding out, but the difference between voluntary practices and mandatory practices is $84k – hardly enough to cause Mack to flinch when he’s seeking around $80 million guaranteed.
So when does Mack’s holdout reach the panic level?
That question was posed yesterday and the consensus seems to be that the time to panic isn’t now.
POLL: When is it time to panic about Khalil Mack’s absence from team activities?
— Raiders Beat (@RaidersBeat) June 11, 2018
John Middlekauff wrote in The Athletic last week that the Raiders might be walking a “slippery slope” in handling Mack’s contract and that’s probably true.
Once Mack skipped the voluntary practices, the three-day mandatory practice became an easy decision. Once he misses the mandatory practices, why show up to the first day of training camp without a new deal?
Where does he draw the line?
Mack is going to play this year (he needs to accrue the year of service), and the Raiders can survive without having him in practices right away, but with a new coaching staff in town (and last season ending the way that it did), there’s a real benefit to having Mack with the team as soon as possible.
With six weeks to training camp, both sides should prioritize reaching a deal before training camp begins because that’s where the situation could really get sideways in a hurry.
twitter: @raidersbeat
No panic… Raiders ain’t letting him go anywhere. It’ll work out. Just wait and see..