After spending the entire offseason trying to get a deal done with Khalil Mack, it looks like the Raiders have officially given up.
According to ESPN.com, the Raiders have agreed to a stunning deal with the Bears that will send Mack to Chicago. The Raiders were reportedly looking to land at least two future first-round picks in exchange for the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year and that's exactly what they'll be getting in return, plus some.
According to ESPN.com, the Bears will be sending two first round picks to the Raiders (2019, 2020), plus a 2019 sixth-round pick and a 2020 third-round pick. The Bears will also be picking up a few draft picks. Along with Mack, Chicago will also receive a 2020 second-round pick and a 2020 conditional fifth-round pick.
With the trade now official, the deal brings the Mack saga to a swift and shocking end in Oakland.
Only one month ago, the idea of the Raiders trading their best defensive player seemed impossible, but that all seemed to change during the past 24 hours. Much of that apparently had to do with Jon Gruden. According to NFL.com, Raiders owner Mark Davis wasn't excited about the thought of trading Mack, but Gruden was "far more open" to the idea. With Gruden open to dealing Mack, there was no way Davis was going to veto him after giving him $100 million to coach the team.
Gruden basically made it clear this entire offseason that he thought the Raiders defense was bad last year, even with Mack, which is likely why he was willing to move on.
"We weren't very good last year on defense with Khalil Mack," Gruden said on July 30, via Pro Football Talk. "We didn't have an interception, I think, all year. I don't know if we intercepted a pass until Week 14. We've got to get a better pass rush, we've got to play better defense, period. And we hope Khalil gets here, but in the time being, we've got plenty of guys who need work."
With Mack now headed for Chicago, the Bears are going to have to do something the Raiders couldn't: work out a new contact with the defensive star.
According to NFL.com, the Bears were given permission to start negotiating a contract with Mack on Friday and have been working hard to hammer something out. Mack's camp will almost certainly be shooting for a deal that's similar to the one that the Rams gave Aaron Donald on Friday, and it sounds like that's what he's going to get.
NFL.com has reported that the Bears are likely going to give Mack a deal that eclipses the one that the Rams gave Donald. If that's the case, Mack is in for a big payday. Donald signed a six-year extension worth $135 million on Friday in a deal that included $87 million in guaranteed money.
Going into Saturday, there weren't many teams in the NFL that had the cap space to add Mack, but the Bears were definitely one of them. According to Over the Cap, the Bears had roughly $23.9 million in cap space heading into the weekend, making them one of just seven teams with more than $20 million in space.
In Chicago, Mack will now join a loaded Bears defense that includes Roquan Smith, Akiem Hicks, Leonard Floyd and Danny Trevathan.
The Bears weren't the only team trying to land Mack. During the past 24 hours, there were at least seven teams trying to trade for the Raiders star. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported on Friday that the 49ers, Jets, Bills, Colts, Packers and Browns were all part of the Mack sweepstakes before the Raiders decided to trade with Chicago early Saturday.
