Oakland Raiders: A few points to help cope with grief in a post-Mack world

Roster Construction

The second point to consider when pondering this post-Mack world is, that the deal was done with an eye toward roster construction.

What does that even mean? Glad you asked.

Let’s say that the Raiders had ponied up that astronomical amount for Mack. That’s going to put a big dent in the team’s salary cap, given that they’re already paying big time deals to Derek Carr – and others.

Had they given quarterback money to Mack, between he and Carr alone, the pair would have counted for almost 25 percent of Oakland’s cap space.

Las Vegas Raiders

That’s a lot of green to be shelling out for two guys when you have 51 other slots that need to be filled. As tough as it is to swallow, shipping Mack out to Chicago, gives the Raiders the flexibility to be aggressive in free agency, and shape a roster filled with talent at a lot of positions, rather than pouring their resources into one – despite how good that one is.

Gruden wasn’t wrong when he said that Oakland’s defense wasn’t very good with Mack in the lineup. Part of that is the incompetence of former DC Ken Norton Jr. (ha ha ha good luck, Seattle!), but part of it also stems from not having a whole lot of talent around Mack to help the cause.

This year, the team got younger, and arguably, better than at any point in Mack’s tenure with the additions of Maurice Hurst, P.J. Hall, and Arden Key, and thanks to DC Paul Guenther’s system, the emergence of Fadol Brown and Shilique Calhoun (now, there’s a phrase many thought would never be written).

If Oakland’s defensive line is as good as some think it could be – and it did look very good in the preseason – the organization will now have that extra money that would have gone to Mack, to improve other areas of the roster – did somebody say linebackers and cornerbacks?

In an ideal world, yeah, Mack would have finished his career in Silver and Black. But, with salary cap constraints, you have to be realistic. You can pay to have one massive impact player at one spot, or you can use that money to add several others at critical positions, and make the defense as a whole all the better for it.

From that perspective, it seems like a no-brainer.