This offseason was supposed to be the one of major extensions for the Raiders’ key players. Instead, one of their young stars will have to wait for his pay day.
The Raiders on Thursday extended right guard Gabe Jackson for five years at $56 million. Between the Jackson deal and the big money the Raiders gave to quarterback Derek Carr last week, they won’t have any room this offseason to extend linebacker Khalil Mack.
With deals done for Gabe Jackson/Derek Carr, Khalil Mack will have to wait till 2018 for new deal, per sources. Too big to fit under cap now
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 29, 2017
The Raiders still have Mack under contract for the upcoming season and a club option for 2018, not to mention the possibility of using a franchise tag on him beyond that if necessary. So it’s not like they have to worry about him leaving in the near future. However, when a player vastly outperforms his contract the way Mack has, it’s generally best practice to reward the player with a new deal.
The Raiders will have to hope Mack doesn’t take exception to not getting his deal this summer. They probably told him they would make it up to him next year.
