Two Former Raiders Find New Homes In The Past Few Days
Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack land in new spots.
It’s been a very wild offseason thus far with Carson Wentz and Russell Wilson landing in new cities, Chris Godwin, Mike Gesicki, and Orlando Brown getting the franchise tag slapped on them, and now two Pro Bowl players getting dealt. Two that used to play for the Raiders.
A few days ago, the Bears dealt Khalil Mack to the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for a 2023 second and sixth round selection. Mack returns to the AFC West after four seasons with Chicago.
Mack played four years with the Raiders where before dealing him in 2018 to Chicago in exchange for a 2019 and 2020 first round pick, a 2019 sixth round pick, and a 2020 third round pick. Over his four years in the Windy City, Mack tallied 171 tackles, 36 sacks, and 14 forced fumbles. Now, he’s heading pack west to a division he once dominated with the Raiders to play the team that drafted him twice a year.
Mack is now being paired with another elite pass rusher in Joey Bosa creating the leagues top duo coming off the edge and solidifying the AFC West as the best pass rushing division. Maxx Crosby, Yannick Ngakoue, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, Bradley Chubb, Chris Jones, and Frank Clark all in one division. JESUS. Those seven players accounted for 48 sacks in 2022.
I genuinely feel bad for the quarterbacks of this division, especially the ones playing the Chargers with four time All Pro and 2016 Defensive Player of the Year reentering the division.
Mack was traded in September of 2018 and then a month later in October, the Raiders dealt Pro Bowl pass catcher Amari Cooper to the Cowboys in exchange for a 2019 first round pick.
Now after three and a half seasons in Dallas where Cooper caught 292 balls for 3,893 yards and 27 touchdowns, he’s being dealt to the Browns in exchange for a 2022 fifth and sixth round selection. The Browns land Cooper essentially for a bag of chips and a pack of gum.
Cooper is an elite route runner with great hands and will clearly be the number one wideout for Baker Mayfield in 2022 as the Browns dropped Odell and have granted Jarvis Landry permission to seek a trade.
It now comes down to the question of can Baker Mayfield get the ball into Coopers hands. He proved that he really wasn’t able to do it with a top tandem in Jarvis and Odell, now with just Cooper as a top option that’ll draw a lot of attention, I’m not sure it could work.
But then again, I could be wrong. I’ve been wrong before. I thought Cincinnati was going to win the Super Bowl and that Mike Gesicki would sign with the Titans so there is always the “Andrew was wrong” factor. Coopers a four time Pro Bowl player that has five seasons of over a thousand receiving yards so he could just carry Baker. It will be exciting to see though.
What is funny though is how much things change over time. Cleveland just landed Cooper for two late round picks, a player that I think is better than Odell. And three years ago today, the Browns made a deal to trade a first round pick, third round pick, and Jabrill Peppers for Odell. Just wild to think about.
And now the Raiders look at their two former young stars coming back to the AFC and have to be shaking their heads.