Had Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden picked up his phone and dialed Khalil Mack’s number in the offseason, the pass rusher would’ve been there on the field Monday night chasing Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff and providing the Raiders what they clearly and sorely missed in that game.
According to a story shared by NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth while covering Sunday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers, Mack would’ve likely booked a flight back to Oakland if Gruden only showed the desire to have him on the team, via Ali Thanawalla of NBC Bay Area.
“I asked [Khalil Mack], if Jon Gruden had called you and said ‘Hey, you're our guy, no way in the world we're letting you get out of here, you're the best player we have,' would it have made a difference? And he said ‘Yeah, it would have,' Collinsworth said near the end of the third quarter.
Instead, Jon Gruden went on an interview with Lisa Salters of ESPN and stated that Khalil Mack simply didn’t want to be a Raider anymore, which was a statement that contradicts Collinsworth’s reportage. Nevertheless, it seems that a simple communication and some massaging words from Gruden could have done the trick to give the Raiders a more favorable ending to the Khali Mack offseason saga.
The Raiders are not getting back Mack anymore after the player signed a massive six-year, $141 million deal with Chicago right after he was traded by Oakland to Chicago for a slew of future draft pics. At best, the Raiders will have to hope that those
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