Raiders QB Derek Carr says Khalil Mack trade ‘isn’t what anybody wanted’
The Oakland Raiders over the weekend made the surprising decision to trade All-Pro defensive end Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears for a plethora of draft picks that included a pair of first-round selections.
This move has caught many players in the organization, which included the likes of Pro Bowl quarterback Derek Carr, who expressed on Monday that it was a trade that nobody wanted to happen by any means, according to Paul Guiterrez of ESPN.
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“It isn’t what anybody wanted — I think that’s clear,” Carr said Monday, two days after the Raiders packaged Mack, who had been holding out all offseason, a second-round draft pick in 2020 and a 2020 conditional fifth-rounder to Chicago for the Bears’ first-round picks in 2019 and 2020, a sixth-rounder in 2019 and a third-rounder in 2020.
“But it is what it is — it’s part of the business,” Carr added. “It’s one of those sucky things that happen. The hardest part for me is, obviously, you lose a good football player, but he’s my brother, man. He’s one of my best friends. I think the hardest part is, I don’t get to see my friend every day.”
Things had been trending in this direction over the last few weeks with the dialogue between both sides never truly picking up. With the regular season fast approaching, it pushed up the timetable on a new deal up fairly quickly that led to the Raiders making this major move.
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Instead of inking him to a new lucrative extension, which he received quickly with the Bears, Oakland operated to get a big haul in exchange for him. However, it was a move that could set the franchise back as he has proven to be a game-changing talent that is one of the best defensive players in the league. There is a strong sense that head coach Jon Gruden played a major role in the team being unwilling to give Mack that huge contract that he had positioned himself to earn.
Ultimately, only time will tell how this move will impact the Raiders’ future on the field in 2018 and well beyond that.
