ALAMEDA – The 2014 Raiders draft class entered a bad situation determined to make it better. The team was awful then, working out salary-cap issues while trying to establish a young foundation and build a competitive team.
Khalil Mack, Derek Carr, Gabe Jackson, Justin Ellis and TJ Carrie gave them hope. Reggie McKenzie got five legitimate contributors from that class, guys who made starts as rookies and four years after.
Working through arduous 3-13 season featuring 10 straight losses and a head coach fired in-season was difficult, but it also bonded the group together.
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SIGN UP HERE That’s especially true of the group’s premier talents, playing premier positions.
Mack and Carr quickly became franchise cornerstones, and All-Pro edge rusher and Pro Bowl quarterback to anchor both sides of the ball.
Carr and Mack talked about a brighter future back then, of guiding the Raiders to prominence. While they’re friends for life, the working relationship ended Saturday when Mack was shipped to Chicago for a package that included two first-round picks.
While Carr will continue leading the Silver and Black through this season and many others, it admits it’ll be strange to carry on without Mack.
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“We planned the next 10 to 15 years of our life sitting at the same lockers,” Carr said Monday. “The weird thing is that it’s a bit of a different chapter now. We both have the same goals, but I just don’t want him to win the Super Bowl.”
Carr took solace in the fact that he and Mack accomplished several goals working together, though a box remains unchecked.
“I felt like, when we showed up here, we wanted to change a culture and I think we did that,” Carr said. “We did change the dynamic of how things are done from the people in the locker room. I believe that 100 percent we changed that, so it makes it a little bit better that we accomplished that together. We wanted to make this a place where free agents wanted to come. I think we did that. We got people to show up, and it wasn’t just the two of us. It was our whole class. We won’t be able to win a ring together. That’s the only thing we won’t cross off the list. But I wish him the best, besides when he plays us.”
The class has separated some this offseason. Having that many rookie contracts end at once – Mack had a year left on a fifth-year option attached to first-round picks – makes it tough to pay every quality player.
Carrie signed a four-year, $31 million deal with Cleveland this offseason despite Jon Gruden wanting him back. Not bad for a seventh-round pick. Mack signed a monster six-year, $141 million contract with $90 million in guarantees on Sunday after agreeing to terms with Chicago a day before.
Carr signed a five-year, $125 million deal last summer. Gabe Jackson signed a five-year, $55 million extension shortly after. Ellis got an affordable $15 million deal this offseason.
Fitting so many big deals was difficult, despite the group’s hope of staying together.
Carr took a bit less to get Jackson done and keep the Raiders on schedule to extend Mack the following offseason. McKenzie’s plan went off the rails. Mack’s price was too high for McKenzie and new head coach Jon Gruden to absorb.
Gruden said Sunday that paying top-of-the-market contracts to Carr and Mack would prove prohibitive to building a consistently competitive 53-man roster, and that played a factor in refusing to meet Mack’s demands.
“That’s what makes it hard,” Carr said. “We all knew. Gabe, Jelly, me, Khalil, we all saw it coming. It’s one of those things you hope can work out. We all did our best to make sure it could, but it didn’t work out. Honestly, it hurts. We tried. We were always talking about things and open with each other about everything we were doing, because we had plans together. It just makes it tough.”
Carr said he was having breakfast Saturday when the Mack trade news broke, and he was as surprised as anybody.
“It’s not what anybody wanted,” Carr said. “I think that’s clear, but it is what it is and it’s a business. It’s one of those sucky things that happened. Not only is he a good football player, but he’s my best friend. It’s hard that I don’t get to see my friend every day. Besides that, I’m sure we’ll see each other soon.”
Ellis woke up to his cell phone going off, clogged with text messages lamenting the Mack move. Remaining members of the 2014 class are now, shockingly enough, the longest-tenured players on the Raiders roster. Hearing about Mack’s departure was tough to take, though they were happy he got a monster deal.
“It was very difficult for all of us,” Ellis said. “Like you said we got close over this period of time. But it was also like a bittersweet moment for us. He got what he wanted. And we know it’s a part of the business.”
