Thanks for the breaking story, @NYJ10. I gave you street cred in the Khalil Mack thread in the main forum. Da Bears. It's still unclear what the terms are, but I'm glad it's over. It's not like I didn't want the guy in theory, but it was too much of a gestalt cost IMO. Once it was revealed the Raiders wanted two first round picks, let somebody else be stupid. We'll hear what the terms are soon enough.
I guess Gruden wants there to be no complaints from anyone in Oakland when the Raiders move to Las Vegas, since it looks like they're going to be unwatchable for the foreseeable future. He is obviously taking that 10-year contract very seriously, and believes himself to be unfireable. They'll have one very high draft pick for sure next year, although if they really did get two picks from the Bears they'll be middle of the pack picks at best. Unless you think the Jets should have also offered two first-round picks for him this works out well for the Jets - it gets him out of the conference, setting Oakland/Las Vegas back years and preventing him from going to an AFC rival. (Although yes, it makes the game this year against the Bears much tougher.) As to the Bears, it seems pretty clear that they're all in on Trubisky. They'd better be right or they're toast. Since they already know what kind of contract they're going to have to give Mack, they won't be able to afford signing a free agent QB any time soon.
Bears have been in the running from the get go from what I was reading. Still not a done deal yet, but if they gave up 2 1st plus some other considerations, that's a bit too much. If they were closer to being a top team I could see it but not right now.
I’d absolutely give up two first rounders for Mack. The likelihood that we’d draft two players individually better than him, or combined will have more impact on this team, is less than Mack’s presence completely improving the entire defense. Sure, it’s exciting to watch the draft and draft guys like Leonard Williams, but it becomes less exciting when watching the actual games and realizing he is just a very good player.
It looks like they got a little less than two firsts in trade value for mack. Not too bad, but I'm glad the Jets didn't do it.
I'm pretty sure I'll be verbally abused by a handful of posters because of this post but unless this Trubisky kid turns out to be better than Derek Carr I highly doubt that the Chicago Bears will rise from the dead. All because of Khalil Mack without a bunch of draft picks and now over $22.5 mill per in cap space. And actually rise above the likes of Minnesota and their dominant (all around) defense with now Kirk Cousins as their Franchise Quarterback of the future and/or the Green Bay Packers who feature without question the NFL's greatest current signal caller in Aaron Rodgers all because of... Khalil Mack and no draft picks. Even the underrated Lions are coming off a 9-7 season and near playoff (miss). Not to mention the likes of the Eagles and Wentz as defending SB champs. The Rams with Goff and Todd Gurley behind an Aaron Donald led defense (Mack ain't, the only one). Dak and Zeke behind that Dallas O-Line. Who could forget about a Drew Brees led New Orleans attack and the 11-5 Saints (with Teddy waiting in the wings) or a Cam Newton led Carolina team coming off an 11-5 season. Or how about the Falcons and Matt Ryan and his offensive trio of Freeman, Julio and and now another WR in Ridley out of Alabama etc, etc. Because throughout his four season(s) in Oakland and outside of flashy individual sack numbers he won absolutely jack shit and was unable to even elevate an entire Raiders defense quite like a Darrelle Revis could for us and did for us and that's a stone cold fact. For all of this dominant QB killing and pass rushing hype surrounding Mack I'm sorry, but I never seen it transform on the Football field. I just don't see it with my own eyes. Now with Revis you would've had to of been blind to not have seen it he literally led our 'would have been' above average defense and made them great. The same can not be stated in regards to that of K.Mack. I'll explain. Rex used Revis. He used him as an island. There isn't anyone who can sit here and tell me that #24 did not prove his ability to elevate an entire defense while leading them to back to back AFC Championship games. And shut down opposing QB's in Palmer, Rivers, Manning & Brady during postseason play. All while smothering and blanketing their #1 WR's. And all at the same damn time too. Compared to (plz, save the excuses) Khalil Mack who with the Raiders throughout his four years there (64 starts) only went 28-37 overall (.430%) consisting of 3 losing seasons in comparison to only 1 winning season and an 0-1 wild card 1st round exit; Yea. Right. I'm pretty sure Oakland fans aren't crying over losing Khalil Mack for multiple 1st round draft picks when they've already lost their favorite team to another city and state. I'd be celebrating two 1st's for a player who held out and refused to play for $$$$$$$ after never doing jack squat for them. Revis ended up winning a ring with N.E. The moral of the story is that the Bears aren't N.E. Chicago is nothing more than a desperate franchise with a team coming off a 5-11 season and quite frankly, Khalil Mack is no Darrell Revis either. Or at least after 4 years he most certainly isn't. But yet the Raiders just fleeced another team before moving to Las Vegas while receiving two 1st round draft picks (and then some). Correct me if I'm wrong but the Raiders just received top 3-5 Franchise QB value for a player (OLB/DE) who's never led by example with actual Franchise status type(s) of results outside of sexy sack numbers (during a whole bunch of garbage time). Thnx god for the Chicago Bears like how I now thank the Football God's for the Minnesota Vikings (I see a bigger picture).
I wanted Mack and thought the trade value was a good deal, but the totality of what that would mean with the contract... whoa, I’m not disappointed that it wasn’t us.
