The Raiders and star pass rusher Khalil Mack continue to be engaged in a contractual stare down. The cold war between player and team could be on the verge of heating up.
The first shot? The curious decision by defensive coordinator Paul Guenther to call Mack out publicly, by claiming that the 2016 NFL defensive player of the year will have “a lot of catching up to do” when he ends his boycott of voluntary offseason workouts.
If Guenther wants Mack in the fold, Guenther perhaps would be better off talking directly to coach Jon Gruden, who by all appearances is running the show in Oakland, about making Mack an offer he won’t refuse. Calling out a player whom Guenther has proclaimed to be the “centerpiece” of the team’s defense probably isn’t the best way to make that player happy.
Or, as the case may be, it probably isn’t the best way to make him less upset.
While Mack has been keeping his cards close to the vest, he’s surely not thrilled with the team’s ongoing failure to put together the kind of package that would represent fair compensation for his services, based on what he has done during his first four NFL seasons and what he can be expected to do moving forward.
Mack is due to make $13.846 million in 2018, the option year that extends his rookie deal from four seasons to five. The Raiders could keep him around through 2020 via the franchise tag, with a Kirk Cousins-style day of reckoning coming in 2021.
Of course, this assumes that Mack will opt to play the year-to-year franchise tag game. He may choose to take a firmer stand than Cousins ever did, and the next clue will come next week, when Mack either will, or won’t, show up for mandatory minicamp.