Return of the Mack.
Much like a loaded cannon set opposite a crew of teddy bears, Khalil Mack left the Raiders' offensive line in smithereens after his display on Sunday.
The Chargers' rusher simply couldn't put a foot wrong, spiraling beyond would-be blockers before crunching Derek Carr not once, not twice, but three times.
It was performances like Mack's Week 1 showing that drew Los Angeles general manager Tom Telesco to acquiring the three-time All-Pro in the offseason. Mack is one of the finest defensive players of his era, a former Defensive Player of the Year winner with everything in his locker. He's also firmly entrenched in his prime.
It's only one game, yes. But Mack's masterpiece put the league's quarterbacks on notice: hold the ball too long and Mack will put you on your back.
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With that, here's how the Chargers got their newest supernova.
Khalil Mack trade, revisited
Why did the Raiders trade Khalil Mack to the Bears?
Khalil Mack first made his bones with the Raiders, earning Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2016. By 2018, though, the former No. 5 overall pick had his sights set on a bigger contract.
The Raiders claimed they didn't have the cap space to give Mack the deal he desired. With rumors swirling indicating that Mack would potentially sit out the entire season, Chicago pounced. The Bears acquired the then 27-year-old, sending a heap of draft picks to Oakland in return.
Here's how the deal shaped up:
- Bears received: OLB Khalil Mack, 2019 second-round pick (No. 43 overall, which became TE Cole Kmet), 2020 seventh-round pick (No. 226 overall, became G Arlington Hambright)
- Raiders received: 2019 first-round pick (No. 24 overall, became RB Josh Jacobs), 2020 first-round pick (No. 19 overall, became CB Damon Arnette), 2019 third-round pick (No. 81, became WR Bryan Edwards), 2019 sixth-round pick (traded to Jets)
"It wasn't my goal to trade Khalil when we got here," then-head coach Jon Gruden said back in 2018. "One of the reasons I'm here is because of him. Unfortunately, we had a standoff with a contract, and we could not come to terms. The Bears made us an offer of two first-round draft choices and here we are today."
Gruden reportedly cried for three days after dealing Mack. A look at the return the Raiders got for their star rusher, and you can see why.
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The trade worked out horribly for the Raiders. Jacobs has been the pick of the bunch, posting a pair of 1,000-yard seasons. However, he hasn't quite propelled himself to the upper echelon of NFL tailbacks.
Arnette and Edwards aren't on the team anymore, for entirely different reasons: Arnette was waived last season after a video emerged showing the then-25-year-old toting a gun and threatening to kill someone with it.
Edwards, meanwhile, was dealt to the Falcons in the offseason after a pair of underwhelming seasons in Vegas.
Meanwhile, Mack and Kmet became cornerstones of a Bears franchise that, for a moment, looked prized to compete for the NFC North crown. But only for a moment.
Why did the Bears trade Khalil Mack to the Chargers?
Rumblings surrounding a potential Mack exit had existed for some time. Mack indicated that he felt Chicago's Super Bowl window was running out back in 2019.
"You’re running out of time, man," Mack said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. "All these older dudes let us know at an early point in my career, man, we ain’t got no time to waste."
That window has since slammed shut; the Bears are 15-19 since the start of the 2020 season.
As the losses began to pile up, rumors intensified. Some linked Mack with a return to the Raiders last summer. However, nothing materialized.
Mack only featured seven times in 2021. He was his usually productive self, recording six sacks in those seven games. But a foot injury sent him to IR, ending his season prematurely.
Chicago proceeded to go 6-11, good for third in the NFC North.
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With a new front office in place, general manager Ryan Poles had a decision to make: keep Mack — a star rusher who produces when on the field but was due to soak up a $30.2 million cap hit in 2022 — or trade him for assets.
Poles opted for the latter, and Mack was dealt to the Chargers.
Here's how the deal looked for both sides:
- Chargers received: OLB Khalil Mack
- Bears received: 2022 second-round pick (No. 48 overall, used to select S Jaquan Brisker), 2023 sixth-round pick
The package Los Angeles gave up to acquire Mack was certainly underwhelming. However, the move was a salary dump, plain and simple.
The deal cleared $6.2 million of Mack's contract from Chicago's cap. That's not great, especially when considering that the other $24 million of Mack's 2022 salary is counted against the Bears as dead money.
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Still, Mack's deal gave the Bears a little wiggle room to upgrade their offense. For a team hoping to build around a young QB like Justin Fields, it was an eminent decision. Poles brought in veteran lineman Lucas Patrick, fullback Khari Blasingame and wideouts Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown in the summer, fortifying an attack already chock full of some interesting pieces.
We're only one game into the season (and that Bears game was played in putrid conditions), but early signs seem to indicate that choice is paying off. Patrick will likely see big minutes this year, as will Pringle. Blasingame is expected to help carve lanes for David Montgomery. And St. Brown had a touchdown with a slick catch in traffic last week.
Los Angeles, meanwhile, looks like a contender in every sense of the word. Mack accentuates a frightening defensive core that already included Nick Bosa and Derwin James.
That unit looked impenetrable for much of the opener against Las Vegas. It forced Derek Carr into legitimate mistakes en route to a fairly comfortable victory.
Mack was at the heart of that impressive display, knocking Carr over four times.
It will take some time to figure out the value of the players Chicago acquired via Los Angeles' draft picks. However, it's hard to deny that in the present, the Chargers certainly look in a better position to compete in 2022.