Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy says his team’s efforts to trade for Khalil Mack a year ago were thwarted primarily by the Raiders’ perception that the Bears would have a higher first-round draft pick.
Murphy told 105.7 The Fan that the Packers made a big offer to the Raiders for Mack, but the Raiders thought the Bears would have a worse team.
“Well the whole Khalil Mack thing. It’s not that we didn’t try,” Murphy said. “We were aggressive. We wanted to sign him. I think, ironically, the Raiders took the Bears offer because they thought they would be a better draft pick.”
That turned out to be an unwise calculation by the Raiders, as the Packers ended up with the 12th overall pick in the draft, while the Raiders got the 24th pick from the Bears. But Murphy thinks it might have worked out for the best, noting that if the Packers had combined the huge contract Mack was demanding with the huge contract they gave Aaron Rodgers, there wouldn’t be much cap space left for the other 51 players on the roster.
“I don’t know if it is good to have the highest paid offensive player in the league, and the highest paid defensive player in the league,” Murphy said. “Is that a good way to build a team?”
Whether the Packers have found a good way to build the team remains to be seen, as the results last year were not good.