Star Oakland Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack was noticeably absent on the first day of the team’s voluntary offseason workouts. It likely has something to do with the fact that he still doesn’t have a new contract extension.
The Raiders reportedly offered Mack a contract extension a month ago and have presumably held succeeding talks about a possible deal. But as Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal notes, the two parties apparently were not really that close to getting a deal done in the preliminary talks.
Raiders been discussing extension with Khalil Mack. Hoped to move quickly on it. But early talks weren’t close.
Mack has been one of the most productive defensive players ever since he came into the league in 2014. He’s played 64 out of a possible 64 games and has had at least 10.5 sacks in each of the last three years. And apart from being a disruptive pass rusher, Mack has also been strong against the run.
With that sort of production, Mack is likely expecting to be paid like one of the top defensive players in the entire NFL. However, the Raiders apparently believed they could get a deal done with a much lower offer than Mack was expecting, and were sorely mistaken.
Mack’s absence on the first day of OTAs was meant to be a wake-up call to the team to get serious and close the seemingly sizable gap between the two parties in negotiations. If they don’t, they risk pushing Mack closer toward a holdout until he gets what he wants.