– The Green Bay Packers certainly had interest in acquiring All-Pro pass rusher Khalil Mack last summer, but 2018 record projections ultimately foiled their plans.
Team President and CEO Mark Murphy told The FAN’s Gary Ellerson this week that the Oakland Raiders’ decision to shop Mack came down to predicting who would be able to offer higher draft compensation between the Packers and Chicago Bears.
“Well, the whole Khalil Mack thing. It’s not that we didn’t try,” Murphy said. “We were aggressive. We wanted to sign him. I think, ironically, the Raiders took the Bears offer because they thought they would be a better draft pick.”
The Wisconsin State Journal’s Jason Wilde noted in September that the Packers made an offer to the Raiders, but not one that included both of the first-round picks they held in 2019. Instead, they reportedly offered one of the first-rounders with an abundance of other picks.
The Bears did end up obtaining Mack, sending over a pair of first-round picks in 2019 and 2020, a 2019 sixth and a 2020 third-rounder. The No. 24 overall pick in April’s draft became Alabama running back Josh Jacobs, who is expected to start in the Raiders’ backfield.
The Raiders’ strategy backfired, however. The Bears finished atop the NFC North with a 12-4 record while the Packers finished third at 6-9-1 and entered the draft with the No. 12 overall selection.
With a healthy Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback, it looked as if the Packers were ready to resume their winning ways after his collarbone injury the year prior. But Rodgers suffered a tibial plateau fracture and MCL sprain in his knee in the team’s season opener against the Bears; the aftermath lingered throughout the remainder of the season.
Shortly after landing Mack, the Bears inked him to a six-year deal worth up to $141 million dollars with $90 million guaranteed. It was a deal that made him the highest-paid defensive player in league history.
The Packers, meanwhile, took care of their own franchise cornerstone prior to the start of the season. They inked Rodgers to a four-year extension worth $134 million with a signing bonus checking in at $57.5 million. This would’ve made getting a deal done for Mack – at the numbers he wanted – relatively difficult and put a strain on the Packers’ salary cap.
“I don’t know if it is good to have the highest-paid offensive player in the league and the highest-paid defensive player in the league,” Murphy said. “Is that a good way to build a team?”
Missing out on Mack didn’t result in the Packers lacking pass rushers. It was a point of emphasis for general manager Brian Gutekunst this past offseason after the departure of Clay Matthews and the release of Nick Perry – two household names in Green Bay for the last several years.
The Packers hit the free agency market in search of remodeling the outside linebacker position, signing both Za’Darius and Preston Smith to hefty deals that provides very little impact on the team’s cap in the first year. The Packers also selected Michigan’s Rashan Gary with the previously mentioned No. 12 overall pick.
