The Khalil Mack trade is fast becoming one of the most impactful in recent Chicago Bears history. GM Ryan Pace made the bold move to trade for the superstar pass rusher after he reached a contract impasse with the Oakland Raiders. Rather than prolong the negotiations, head coach Jon Gruden instructed GM Reggie McKenzie to find the best trade deal possible. In the end, Pace made the most appealing offer.
At least that’s the way it seemed at the time. One GM though continues to believe the Raiders made a huge mistake and that Pace wasn’t the one who made the best offer. The San Francisco 49ers were another team that was in on the Mack sweepstakes. John Lynch, the man in charge of the pursuit, strongly hinted that this was the case.
He appeared 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area to talk about his team. The topic of Mack soon came up and Lynch didn’t beat around the bush.
“I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but we tried like heck to acquire Khalil Mack. But it didn’t work out. But, you try by any means necessary to get it but it’s not easy. Guys that are free, they never become free because they’re so coveted in this league. They’re franchise (tagged) typically or they work out a new deal.”
There’s still some wiggle room for conjecture at this point, but not long after Lynch was asked point blank if he felt the 49ers made a better offer.
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“I continue to (believe that).”
Ryan Pace got Khalil Mack thanks to poor scouting by Raiders
If this is true and the 49ers did indeed offer a richer package, how in the world did Pace pull off the deal? Well, this is where a touch of irony sets in. Sometimes there are actually benefits to being a bad team for a long time. After going four straight seasons with a losing record, the Raiders brass convinced themselves that the odds were higher that Chicago’s draft picks would end up in higher slots than San Francisco or other teams.
They didn’t stop to consider the fact that they were trading one of the two or three best defensive players in football to a defense that was already ranked in the top 10 last year. Never mind they’d also hired a top offensive mind in Matt Nagy to fix their problems on the other side of the ball. This was a team primed and ready for a turnaround. All they needed was one more push and Oakland handed it to them on the cheap by the sound of it.
