2018 NFL off-season thread: Mr. Alex Smith goes to Washington

In before the lock - I'm always curious how teams are able to get six or seventh round picks for players they would otherwise be cutting. Do the teams wanting the player not want to risk not getting their waiver claim? Or that they might have to pay more if he hits the open market? And how do they know that player is getting cut and how does the team cutting him know some teams might be willing to give a 6 or 7?

 

Paging @QYFW

 

Is Gruden really this ego-centric?

 

It's a good deal. Two first-round picks and more for a guy who's going to be gone after this year? That's almost no-brainer territory.

Mack was going to eat up way too much cap space for the Raiders to do anything else.

 

Can Chicago sign him now?

 

The Oakland Raiders have become the Oakland A's.

 

They offered Mack a deal. He didn't take it, but by all accounts it was in the ballpark, just wasn't top dollar. Last year they gave Carr the megadeal. And of course they shoved all that cash to Gruden. I don't think this is about being cheap. I think it's them judging Mack's value, right or wrong.

It appears I'm well in the minority on this judging from the analyst tweets I've been seeing. But if he's looking for what Aaron Donald got, I think the Raiders dodged a bullet. The Donald contract is going to put the Rams in trouble in the near future.

 

That seems like a strong possibility. Also, I think Donald is simply worth more than Mack.

The Bears could be dealing themselves into some serious trouble building their roster long term if they really are giving up two first-round picks and a contract as large or larger than what Donald got.

 

I will agree that the Raiders D is too cruddy to maximize Mack's impact. I also agree though that the team dealing Mack is going to cause more problems with players who thought the team was serious about winning.