Everyone knows Khalil Mack wants more money than what the Raiders are offering, but according to a report in The Athletic, the hangup right now (and apparently for the past few months) is the guaranteed money.
“I have talked to both sides this week, there is “nothing new,” and the progress has been glacial as they are apparently still far apart on guaranteed money,” Vic Tafur reported on Tuesday. “The Raiders made an offer in the spring, it wasn’t enough, and there has been very little volleying back and forth.”
Tafur also refuted reports that the Raiders aren’t talking with Mack during his holdout, adding that the team is not approaching Mack’s holdout in the way that they did Donald Penn’s a year ago.
“Mack is 27 years old,” Tafur added. “And as Gruden said the other day, the best player on the team. It’s the reason you haven’t heard McKenzie say he won’t negotiate until Mack returns, like he often did while Penn was gone last summer.”
Realistically, that means that all of Mack’s fines will be forgiven since they did as much for Penn. Any fine amounts that are discussed in the days ahead are irrelevant. There will be no fines.
One of the stories that Tafur did confirm is that the Raiders haven’t made an offer to Mack in a long time – or to be exact, no new offers since the spring. And “very little volleying back and forth” since then seems like a nice way of saying the sides haven’t been talking much at all. If Reggie McKenzie and Mack’s agent aren’t throwing numbers back and forth, what else is there to be talking about?
Right now, it’s a messy situation between Mack and the Raiders and while that might change in an instant, it’s fair to acknowledge the tense relationship. Or if communication is the key to a relationship, maybe there’s just not much of a relationship at all.
Hopefully that will change before September 10th.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Then maybe you should quit telling us nothing. Let me know when we have Mack back. Anything prior to that is nothing.
Lol true.
**** straight! These nothing new articals are old and lazy.
So annoying when a man cant honor his contract. I know my mortgage company would let that happen. Honor what you sign or don’t sign from the beginning.
Mack is a awesome player dont get me wrong but spending 20mil a year along with Carr’s 20mil only hurts the team. I say trade him and draft a DE next year. Also I think the raiders are waiting to see what they have in the rookies to see if they can get by without Mack. Look at the Broncos situation they have Miller but cant afford to pay for a high price QB, Trading away Talib cause of his salary.