Raiders coach Jon Gruden is having a tough time in his return to coaching, and he acknowledges that his decision to trade Khalil Mack is a part of it.
Gruden said a big part of the challenge during the team’s 0-3 start stems from the fact that he chose to prioritize winning in the future by acquiring the Bears’ next two first-round draft picks over winning now by signing Mack to a long-term contract extension.
“Yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard to trade one of the best players on your franchise. It’s hard. It’s hard on the players. We didn’t get anything for him that’s going to help us this year,” Gruden said, via Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
If Gruden is smart about how he uses the Bears’ first-round picks in 2019 and 2020, and in how he spends all the salary cap savings the Raiders will have because they’re not paying Mack, in the long run he may build a winner in Oakland. In the short term, trading away a great player is hard.
