Raiders GM Discusses Khalil Mack Trade
Last weekend, the Raiders were the talk of the NFL after sending star linebacker Khalil Mack to the Bears. While owner Mark Davis and head coach Jon Gruden were the two pushing for the trade, it’s uncertain how much general manager Reggie McKenzie had to do with the deal.
Gruden clearly has the ear of his owner, emphasized by the organization dealing off many of McKenzie’s draft picks. There have been rumblings that the Raiders could be preparing to part ways with the general manager, although Gruden was clear it was an organizational decision to trade off Mack.
For what it’s worth, McKenzie didn’t sound like he was entirely on board with a Mack deal. In an interview with Scott Bair of NBC Sports BayArea, the general manager provided some insight into the trade. The whole interview is worth reading, and we’ve collected some of the notable soundbites below:
On how he was handling the entire ordeal prior to the trade:
“My whole thought process was to get Khalil (signed). 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.”
On negotiations with Mack, who ended up signing a six-year, $141MM ($90MM guaranteed) deal after being dealt to Chicago:
“There were some things that weren’t meshing between the two proposals. That made it hard to go into details. We were trying to figure out ways to get it done, but it wasn’t going to look like what Khalil wanted.”
On whether quarterback Derek Carr‘s five-year, $125MM extension impacted negotiations with Mack:
“We knew we had two great players in that [2014] draft a long time ago. We knew this thing was coming. We were trying to plan for this. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. That scenario did not weight heavily in our decisions.”
On the perception that the organization is unwilling to pay their own players:
“We will pay top dollar. We couldn’t get around giving Khalil what he wanted. We will pay top dollar to top players. We just could not get it worked out with Khalil. When it seemed like it was going that way, we decided to make a move with the trade. We will be able attract players. …We’ll find a way to continue to play good football. We’re not worried about the outside perception of free agency. We will get free agents in here when its time to do that and we will keep our own. Sometimes you can’t keep them all. That’s just the way it goes.”
Latest On Raiders’ Khalil Mack Decision
Addressing the Khalil Mack trade for the first time, Jon Gruden said the Raiders’ salary cap situation indeed played into the choice to ship the team’s best player to Chicago. Particularly, Derek Carr‘s contract played a role.
While Gruden said (via the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Michael Gehlken, on Twitter) he was not involved in the daily communications between Mack’s agent and the team, he did indicate Carr’s $25MM-AAV contract — one the quarterback signed in hopes of leaving his team enough money to take care of teammates’ deals down the road — made it difficult to complete a Mack extension. And the Raiders weren’t particularly close on terms with their former superstar defender.
The Bears gave Mack a six-year, $141MM contract with $90MM in guarantees — raising the bar for defenders after Aaron Donald did so previously. Gruden confirmed (per Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area, on Twitter) the Raiders made an offer, and it was “not anywhere close” to the terms Mack received from the Bears.
Gruden said the 27-year-old phenom was part of why he accepted Mark Davis‘ offer to return to coach the Raiders, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter), but added the $90MM in guarantees was something the Raiders “could not do.” Rumors about the Raiders’ wherewithal to authorize such a guarantee surfaced late in the offseason, but nothing concrete emerged about Davis’ ability to construct a Mack extension. But it’s clear the Raiders were not willing to venture into the financial neighborhood the Bears were.
As for pulling the trigger on a trade now, when Mack was attached to a $13MM-plus fifth-year option and could have been franchise-tagged in the future, Gruden said he did not believe Mack was going to report and it was “time to move on.” Additionally, the Bears’ “unique” offer prompted the Raiders to make the deal, with the 55-year-old head coach adding there was no guarantee a proposal including two first-round picks would’ve been on the table in 2019 (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Vic Tafur).
The Raiders received interest from several teams on the Mack front — the Jets, 49ers and Browns are the known suitors who didn’t match the Bears’ haul — and ended up giving the Bears a second-round pick in the deal. Gruden said, via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link), he was not part of the discussion that sent a future Day 2 pick to the Bears.
With Gruden having cut or traded several of Reggie McKenzie‘s recent draft picks in recent weeks, and having criticized the 2015-17 classes during training camp — and on Sunday (Twitter link via Gehlken) — some understandable discord may be taking place in Oakland. Some around the NFL did not expect the Gruden-McKenzie partnership, one that featured Gruden siphoning much of the GM’s power, to last, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets. However, Gruden said the Raiders came to this Mack decision “as an organization,” per Gehlken (on Twitter).
Hue Jackson “Pushed Hard” For QB Trade This Offseason?
Prior to the 49ers snagging Jimmy Garoppolo for a second-round pick that’s likely to fall at the top of Day 2, the Browns were the team most connected with the former Patriots backup this offseason. And Hue Jackson may have been a key driver behind that Garoppolo-to-Cleveland buzz.
The second-year Browns coach “pushed hard” this offseason for the team to trade for Garoppolo or former Bengals charge A.J. McCarron, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports. Jackson felt Garoppolo could be a big part of a turnaround from Cleveland’s 1-15 season, Cabot reports, and made Tom Brady‘s then-backup his primary offseason target.
Cabot adds the Patriots would have traded Garoppolo to the Browns for “the right offer,” which the longtime Browns reporter notes would have had to include at least one first-round pick. The Browns had two of those going into the draft and ended up with three first-round selections while also carrying multiple second-round picks in April after making the Brock Osweiler trade.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported the Browns offered a second-round pick for Garoppolo, with Cabot adding the team did not go further on Day 2 of this draft to make the necessary offer to the Pats. Browns executive VP Sashi Brown said going into the draft the team was not interested in trading for a veteran quarterback.
Kyle Shanahan and Garoppolo spent time together when the current 49ers coach worked as the Browns’ OC in 2014, and Shanahan told cleveland.com at this year’s Super Bowl he had Garoppolo ranked high among the draftable 2014 passers during his one-year stay in northeast Ohio. Shanahan did not want Johnny Manziel, whom the Browns drafted, nor did he prefer Teddy Bridgewater. However, the short-term Browns play-caller did like Derek Carr and Tom Savage, per Cabot.
When the Patriots and Browns could not agree on terms for Garoppolo, Jackson pivoted to McCarron, Cabot reports. But Jackson viewed the current Bengals backup, whom he coached for two seasons in Cincinnati, as a stopgap until the Browns could land their long-term solution.
Cabot wonders if McCarron would be in play by today’s 3pm CT deadline but reports it would have likely taken at least two second-round picks to pry him from the Bengals this offseason. McCarron is under contract through the 2018 season.
Latest On Derek Carr’s Return
Derek Carr made a surprising return to Raiders practice on Thursday despite being diagnosed with a transverse process fracture earlier this week. However, that unexpected re-emergence doesn’t mean he’ll return for Week 5.
Oakland’s franchise quarterback will still miss the Raiders’ home tilt against the Ravens on Sunday, Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com notes. EJ Manuel will still take the field for the first time as a Raiders starter, being set to do so because the Raiders don’t want to unnecessarily accelerate Carr’s return timetable, Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes.
The fourth-year passer was given a two-to-six-week recovery schedule despite the fact Tony Romo and Cam Newton returned from transverse process fractures after missing one game apiece. Carr went through the team’s stretching period and got in some throws, per Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com, but it doesn’t sound like this was an extensive workout barely four days after suffering the back injury. Left tackle Donald Penn also referred to Carr as “very ahead of schedule,” per Bair (on Twitter).
The Raiders have home games against the Ravens and Chargers the next two Sundays before the Chiefs make a visit to the Bay Area for a critical Thursday-night clash. Bair and Gehlken note there’s a chance Carr returns for the Week 6 game against the Bolts. That goal being in play would, if nothing else, put Carr on a better track to face the Chiefs, if indeed he sits against the Chargers the Sunday prior.
Latest On Raiders QB Derek Carr
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr suffered a transverse process fracture in his back, coach Jack Del Rio told reporters on Monday afternoon. The team will have to see how he responds to treatment before getting an exact timetable for his recovery. Typically, Del Rio explained, this injury calls for a 2-6 week recovery period. 
Carr will almost certainly miss Sunday’s game against the Ravens and he should probably he considered doubtful for the following week against the Chargers as well. While he’s out, E.J. Manuel will be the team’s top signal caller with 24-year-old Connor Cook serving as his backup.
Last season, Carr completed 63.8% of his passes for 3,937 yards, 28 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 6 QB last season, putting him ahead of Drew Brees, Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, and several other major names. Only Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, Luck, and Russell Wilson finished with higher scores than Carr.
In June, the Raiders signed Carr a lucrative extension worth roughly $25MM/year.
Derek Carr To Undergo MRI
Derek Carr left the Raiders’ Week 4 loss to the Broncos in the third quarter with a back injury, and Oakland’s cornerstone player will undergo an MRI Monday after having X-rays done during the game. However, Jack Del Rio offered an early assessment.
The third-year Raiders coach said Carr was experiencing back spasms, adding (via Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, on Twitter) he’s not concerned long-term about the injury. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports back spasms are the issue here (Twitter link). Carr did not confirm Del Rio’s diagnosis and said postgame (Twitter links, via Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com) he’s in “a lot of pain” currently. But the recently extended quarterback is optimistic he can play in Week 5 against the Ravens.
This marks the second straight season Carr missed at least a key portion of a Raiders game in Denver, with the passer, of course, not playing during the team’s previous trip to Colorado because of his season-ending broken leg injury. This time around, EJ Manuel came in to relieve the ailing starter. He fared better than Connor Cook or Matt McGloin did, driving the Raiders into Broncos territory on a potential game-winning drive before throwing an interception that sealed the road defeat.
The Raiders signed Manuel to a one-year, $800K deal. He would be the next man up if Carr cannot play against the Ravens.
Latest On Derek Carr’s Contract
Derek Carr‘s five-year, $125MM contract makes him the highest-paid NFL player and the first to break the $25MM-AAV barrier. Some of this deal’s specifics — like Carr’s $70MM guaranteed and $40MM fully guaranteed at signing — have been reported, but Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports some key details in the agreement on Sunday.
Carr received a $12.5MM signing bonus and will make $5MM in 2017 base salary. According to OverTheCap, the 26-year-old quarterback will have a 2017 cap figure of $15.73MM. For the ensuing five years, Carr’s cap figures are as follows: $25MM (2018), $22.5MM (’19), $21.5MM (’20), $22.13MM (’21) and $19.88MM (’22).
As for how the guarantees in these years are structured, Carr picked up a $7.5MM roster bonus on June 30 to add to his 2017 total. For 2018, his $7.4MM base salary is guaranteed for injury only at signing, but Florio reports that will be fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2018 league year. A $15MM roster bonus will come Carr’s way on Day 3 of the ’18 league year as well. That will be paid within 15 days of that March date, per Florio.
In 2019, Carr’s deal is less complicated. He will earn a base salary of $19.9MM for his age-28 season. It’s structured like his ’18 salary, being guaranteed for injury only at signing but fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2019 league year. For 2020, the base pay is $18.9MM, with $2.9MM of that guaranteed for injury at signing. Carr’s 2021 and ’22 bases are worth $19.53MM and $19.78MM, respectively. Both figures are non-guaranteed, according to Florio. Of course, Carr could be operating on his third contract by then.
Where Carr will be playing matters now as well.
With Nevada not having a state income tax and California’s residing at 13 percent, Carr will see more money once the Raiders move to Las Vegas. Florio notes that the uncertain 2019 season — after the Raiders’ Oakland Coliseum lease expires and a year before the earliest date by which Vegas stadium is set to be ready — will bring some variance. If the Raiders stay in Oakland, Carr will pay an additional $2.6MM in taxes for 2019 compared to how this would shake out if the franchise moved to another Nevada site while the domed stadium is being finished.
Carr conceded he wanted to leave some money for the Raiders to be able to keep Gabe Jackson and Amari Cooper (when he becomes extension-eligible in 2018) while helping the team plan for the seemingly inevitable record-setting Khalil Mack extension.
QB Notes: Carr, Stafford, Bortles, FAs
During the press conference to announce his new contract, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had said that he wanted to leave some money for the organization to re-sign his teammates.
“The main thing that I could just remember was all along the way, I was like, ‘How do we keep my teammates?’” Carr said (via Raiders.com). “That’s, I don’t know if it’s weird how it sounds, but that was just what I kept telling him. I was like, ‘OK. that’s cool. Yeah, that’s awesome, wow, cool. Is this good for Gabe [Jackson]? Is this good for Khalil [Mack]? Is this good for Amari [Cooper]?’ [Reggie] can tell you himself, these are things that I said to him numerous amounts of times. I didn’t want to hurt our team; that’s the last thing I would ever want to do. So, hopefully we didn’t That’s the last thing that I intended to do and that’s kind of why I was so involved.”
Well, Carr’s brother, former NFL quarterback David Carr, said the Raiders star left money on the table so the team could specifically re-sign offensive guard Gabe Jackson (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com). While Carr still became the first player in NFL history to make more than $25MM a season, his contract apparently left enough room for the organization to re-sign Jackson to a five-year, $56MM extension.
Let’s check out some more notes from around the NFL pertaining to the league’s quarterbacks…
- With all the talk surrounding free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Roy Cummings of FloridaFootballInsiders.com notes that there are a number of available signal-callers who could justify having a roster spot in the NFL. Besides the former 49ers quarterback, Cummings lists Vince Young, Robert Griffin, Christian Ponder, Johnny Manziel, and Jay Cutler as those who are still awaiting phone calls.
- Matthew Stafford‘s 2018 franchise tag value will be around $26.4MM, according to Albert Breer of the MMQB.com. The reporter notes that this will give the veteran some leverage during contract negotiations with the Lions, as the “the expected slotted number” was around $22MM. Next season, Stafford will be earning a $16.5MM base salary in the final year of his contract.
- The Jaguars acquisition of rookie running back Leonard Fournette, rookie lineman Cam Robinson, and veteran offensive tackle Branden Albert should give the organization some clarity on quarterback Blake Bortles, writes Breer. The 25-year-old, who seemingly took a step back last season following a breakout 2015 campaign, had his fifth-year option for 2018 picked up earlier this offseason.
Community Tailgate: Derek Carr’s Deal
Derek Carr is now the highest-paid player in the NFL…depending on how you look at it. The “new money” average annual value of Carr’s deal gives him $25MM per year, beginning in 2018 when the contract kicks in. That tops Andrew Luck‘s new money yearly average of $24.769MM, giving Carr the mantle by a slim margin of $271K per season. There’s also the matter of cashflow. Luck’s three-year value ($75MM to $67.6MM) and four-year value ($96.125MM to $87.7MM) tops Carr’s. Any way you slice it, Carr probably won’t be at the top for long anyway since Matthew Stafford is on deck for a new deal and the Lions are not hesitant about making him the highest-paid player in the NFL.
[RELATED: Derek Carr Discusses Extension]
When asked about his new contract at a press conference earlier this week, Carr explained that he structured the deal with his teammates in mind. The Raiders will soon begin extension talks with right guard Gabe Jackson, linebacker Khalil Mack, and (perhaps a little further down the line) wide receiver Amari Cooper. The way the deal is designed, Carr said, should help the Raiders keep all of those key pillars for years to come.
When looking at the fine print, Carr’s deal isn’t exactly the market-pushing deal that the initial reports would have led us to believe. There was speculation that Carr would push the Raiders for larger-than-usual guarantees or perhaps even a set percentage of the yearly salary cap to account for the team’s ever-increasing revenue. Neither one of those things happened and Carr didn’t exactly shatter the glass ceiling for top quarterbacks.
Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap estimates that the quarterback market should really be around $27-$30MM by now rather than $25MM. Because a few QBs like Tom Brady accepted team-friendly deals, the going rate for elite signal callers has not increased at the same rate as the salary cap. Carr’s deal will help out the Raiders and his teammates, but it doesn’t necessarily blaze a trail for his fellow quarterbacks.
Do you like Carr’s decision to structure his deal in a way that suits Oakland? Or do you think the youngster should have pushed for more? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
Derek Carr Discusses Extension
The Raiders and franchise quarterback Derek Carr finally agreed to an extension this week that’s worth around $25MM per year. The 2014 second-round pick is now signed through the 2022 season, and he’ll presumably earn at least $70MM in guaranteed money ($40MM of that was already guaranteed upon signing the extension).
The 26-year-old met with the media yesterday to discuss his brand-new contract. The Associated Press reviewed his press conference, and we’ve compiled some of the notable soundbites below:
On his negotiations with the Raiders:
“I think that both sides wanted it to get done. It was two family members just figuring out how to get along, and we did. We figured out a way to do it so that we have the opportunity to sign the other guys that I think are important to this organization. That was really important to me, not just to take every single dime that we could.”
On him earning the NFL’s richest contract:
“I think I’ve set a standard for myself, the organization and for this team, personally, that no amount of money is going to matter. It doesn’t matter. You can give me a dollar, you can give me $25 million, it doesn’t matter to me. My goal is that I make sure I give everything I have to this organization. There’s no pressure, there’s no, ‘We’ll be on the 1-yard line and I won’t give it to Marshawn, I’ll throw it.’ None of that stuff. I don’t care about the stats, that’s not my No. 1 objective.”
On his teammates’ reaction to the extension:
“All of my teammates to a man said, ‘Man you work your tail off, you deserve it.’ I don’t feel like I deserve it. But just them saying that grabbed my heart because they’re the ones I go to battle with, they’re the ones I work with every single day. What they have to say really matters to me. I do know I will have to owe them all a big dinner. That will be fun.”