Here are all of the winners and losers from the Khalil Mack trade
Winner: Raiders 2019 hopes
Now this deal was awful and abysmal for the Raiders in the short term. There is no denying that at all. Acquiring 2 first round draft picks is a great thing for any team and will obviously help them in the future. That is if Jon Gruden allows the team to draft a defensive player with one of their first round picks. That is a serious question after they drafted Kolton Miller with Tremaine Edmunds and Derwin James still on the board, and a defense coming off of a 29th ranked season.
However, a peak at the 2019 NFL free agent class can explain what they are looking at. By clearing up cap space that would’ve been used on Mack, the Raiders have brought in 2 more first round picks and will have that space for next year.
By the end of the day:
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 1, 2018
— The #Bears will have Khalil Mack, who will be the highest-paid defensive player in football.
— The #Raiders will have 2 first-round picks and more, plus $23M more per year to play with that would’ve gone to Mack.
Two of the top free agents next year are Ezekiel Ansah and DeMarcus Lawrence. They are both powerful pass rushers who can fill in Mack’s role after a year of life without an elite pass rusher. Ansah had 12 sacks last year after 14.5 in 2015. Lawrence finally had a breakout season last year, exploding for 14.5 sacks with the Cowboys. Either one of them can be a dominant edge player, doing their best to fill the void left by Khalil Mack.
Raiders fans shouldn’t be happy with this trade, however they should know that there is a way to make it work for 2019. It just has to be done right and they need to hit home runs on these draft picks.