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Jets reach out to Raiders to express interest in trading for disgruntled All-Pro Khalil Mack, per sources
By MANISH MEHTA
The Jets are going big-game hunting.
Gang Green has reached out to the Oakland Raiders to express their interest in trading for perennial All-Pro outside linebacker Khalil Mack, according to league sources.
The Raiders have fielded queries from more than a dozen teams, including several that have reached out multiple times, sources said.
The Jets haven’t made an offer for arguably the best defensive player in the NFL, but their mindset is clear: We’re going to be aggressive to address our biggest weakness.
Oakland has told interested clubs that they will not part with the tour-de-force edge pass rusher, whose holdout has extended to 27 days. But until the Raiders and Mack actually end their impasse ... never say never.
Mack, scheduled to make $13.8 million on his fifth-year option, is looking to become the first non-quarterback to make $20 million per year. The 2016 Defensive Player of the Year will be worth every penny given his prodigious production in his first four seasons. Mack, the fifth overall pick in the 2014 draft, has been a nightmare for years.
How ridiculously great is Mack, who’s in his prime at age 27?
Well, consider his “down year” in 2017: 10.5 sacks, 13 quarterback hits and 55 hurries, according to Pro Football Focus. He accounted for 31.7 percent of Oakland’s pressures.
Mack, believe it or not, is better than his absurd career numbers (40 1/2 sacks). He’s started every game of his career.
He’s a menace that would transform any defense. Your pass rush instantly becomes great the minute he steps on the field. He’s also a run-stopping freak.
The Jets, who have ranked in the bottom 5 in sacks in each of the past two seasons, are desperately looking to upgrade on the edge. The Daily News reported this week that Gang Green reached out to the Jaguars to gauge their interest level in trading mercurial defensive end Dante Fowler Jr.
“Well, we don't have the name guy,” Todd Bowles said of his current collection of edge pass rushers. "We don't have the Lawrence Taylor, so to speak, but we have guys that work hard and are very tough at the point of attack. You don't need a name guy. You just need a guy with production. And the production will make the name.
Disrupting the quarterback is the big thing as well as setting the edge. We have certain guys that can do a lot of things right now. We’re mixing and matching to get a feel for what guys can and can't do right now.”
None of those guys, frankly, can do what Mack can do.
He’s on an altogether different level. He’s a game-wrecker who single-handedly alters opponent’s game-plans. He strikes fear into quarterbacks on a weekly basis.
Mack, a three-time Pro Bowler, became the first player in NFL history to earn first-team All-Pro honors at two different positions (defensive end and outside linebacker) in 2016.
“Mack’s the best player coming off the edge in football,” Raiders head coach Jon Gruden said last week. “That’s our opinion. We’re determined to find a way to get him in here and get him a contract and get on with life.”
That’s evidently easier said than done.
The Raiders haven’t given any interested teams permission to discuss a new contract with Mack’s representatives in a potential trade scenario, according to sources.
The Jets, frankly, have the resources to make it happen given their available cap space now and relatively low 2019 cap commitments. The Raiders, however, haven’t reached the point where they’d entertain such a thought.
It would be an enormous cost – at least a first-rounder and another premium pick (first three rounds) or a first-rounder and a top-level starter – but the Jets are bent on not sitting on their hands if Oakland alters their current stance.
For those who believed that the Jets would be happy to tip-toe through this season before making a big splash in 2019, think again. This regime has been strategically aggressive since the end of last season.
The Raiders seemingly aren’t blinking in their stare-down with Mack. But if they do, the Jets have made it clear that they’ll be serious suitors for the best defensive player in the sport.
That mindset is exactly what the franchise needs right now.
