Gone.
Khalil Mack is an exceptionally rare talent, so it obviously would take a lot to get him traded.
It did, but it certainly wasn’t the Oakland Raiders’ plan all along.
An ongoing contract dispute ended Saturday morning when the Raiders traded their star edge rusher to the Chicago Bears. As he prepared for the final year of his deal, Mack held out the entirety of training camp in hopes of getting a new contract.
Instead, he ended up in Chicago. However, by day’s end he was the owner of the incredibly lucrative deal he was in pursuit of. So while it came with a change of scenery, he got what he wanted.
But how about the Raiders?
In the end, they got a pair of first-round picks for him, but it wasn’t until the last second they realized trying to keep Mack in Oakland would be a fruitless effort. Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie on Sunday explained when they decided they would have to trade him.
“My whole thought process was to get Khalil (signed),” McKenzie said, via CBS Sports. “It was at the…
