The Oakland Raiders have traded pro bowl defensive end Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears, according to Adam Schefter.
The trade makes Mack the fourth Defensive Player of the Year to get traded the following season joining Jason Taylor, Pat Swilling, Keith Millard, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Minutes after the trade, Raiders' players voiced their displeasure with the move.
The trade not only sparked reaction from the players but also had others questioning new head coach John Gruden capabilities.
Gruden, who has not coached since 2008, signed a $100 million deal over 10 years to become the Raiders new head coach in January. It was supposed to be a return to form. Gruden's first offseason with the team has been quite the opposite.
Tight end Jared Cook had this to say about Gruden's coaching style, “He’s bringing up film from like 1976. I didn’t even know they had film then. It’s grainy film, too.”
Gruden is out of touch. He also openly admitted to never speaking to 2017 Defensive Player of the Year, Khalil Mack. Another knock on the former Super Bowl champion head coach.
The last straw should have come after Gruden willingly trade Khalil Mack away from unproven talent. Even Oakland's General Manager Reggie McKenzie disagreed with the move.
"My whole thought process was to get Khalil (signed)," McKenzie said. "It was at the end, in the final hour, that it just hit. It hit hard and heavy. It was not a plan to trade him at all."
The 2018 NFL regular season has not even started yet and Oakland already looks dysfunctional.
The immediate blame falls on Gruden for his unwillingness to talk to Mack, a move that will set the already weak defense back a few years. The trade looks even worse for Oakland considering the Bears and Mack agreed to a new deal almost immediately following the deal.
Six years and $141 million dollars later and Chicago now has a key cornerstone to re-establishing a dominant defense in the NFC North. Oakland has draft picks.
Trading away established stars is nothing new when a new regime takes over. San Francisco's John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan and Cleveland's John Dorsey are examples of this. Even then, the craziest of front offices still would not trade away Mack in a league where elite pass rushers are a rarity.
Winning the trade all depends on how Oakland drafts in the upcoming years but if 2017 is any proof, the soon to be Las Vegas Raiders may find themselves at the bottom of the AFC West for the entirety of Gruden's tenure. If he can last that long.