Oakland Raiders offensive lineman Donald Penn would be lying if he said this past season was a success for the Raiders. It was disastrous. It's clear the Raiders are in the midst of a huge rebuild, but the move that started the woes for Oakland was the trade that sent Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears. It had to be incredibly difficult to watch the Mack and the Bears have the success they had last season, especially being a part of the Raiders organization.
Penn recently spoke with NFL Network's Lindsay Rhodes and spoke on the difficult season and what the trade did to the team after it was made.
“No matter what nobody says, we tried to overcome it. But when you trade your best player away in the beginning of the year, it takes a toll on guys. Whether they say it or not. We fought through it. We tried to stay together. It was a tough season.”
The trade didn't just mark the end of Mack's reign of terror with the Raiders, Penn lost the ability to share a sideline with one of his friends and the situation hurt the team as a whole.
“Khalil Mack is one of my good friends. I'm happy he did what he did. But I knew kind of when I saw Aaron Donald sign that deal I kind of knew in the back of my head that we weren't going to be able to sign Khalil cause all the money he was going to ask for. I knew what [Jon] Gruden was coming from cause I might know different cause I been in the league for so long. I know it's a business.”
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