When the Oakland Raiders traded away Khalil Mack, they were met with a ton of criticism. Fans and media were both highly critical of the move to trade away the All-Pro pass-rusher. They felt the Raiders bungled the situation surrounding Mack's contract, and that the Bears made a great move picking him up. But apparently, not everyone agrees.
The Raiders received the ‘Best Transaction' award from the prestigious Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at MIT, according to Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com. The award is given for “the single best move that any franchise made, in any sport, over the last year.” It's high praise for Jon Gruden, who took over the team's football operations last year.
It's not too surprising, considering that analytics proponents often champion full-scale rebuilds of teams rather than half-measures. Mack was due for a massive contract extension, and the Raiders weren't going to be winning anything last year anyway, even with Mack.
It's easy to understand why the analytics crowd would be impressed with the haul Gruden got back. The Raiders are essentially starting from scratch, and now have a lot of assets to work with. They also traded away Amari Cooper, another player due for an extension, and got back another first round pick. Oakland has three first round picks in this April's draft, and plenty of ammo to work with.
The optics weren't pretty, especially considering the Raiders insisted all offseason they were going to get a deal done with Mack for a new contract, but it just might work out alright for them in the end. Of course, it'll all depend on how well Gruden can draft.
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