Oakland Raiders: 3 Things to watch for in Preseason Week 1

1. How does the defensive end position work without Mack?

The darkest cloud hovering over the Oakland Raiders season is the holdout of defensive end Khalil Mack. He’s heading into the last season of his rookie deal and Mack wants to get something worked out with the team.

He deserves to be paid, considering he’s had double-digit sacks in each of the past three seasons. He’s more than just an edge rusher though as his lowest tackle total came in 2016 when he had 73 registered tackles. That also happened to be the season he won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award.

After doing much of this work without a lot of talent around him, Mack now stays away and the Raiders need to see what the position looks like without him. We already mentioned Arden Key as a potential player in their line and Bruce Irvin has moved from linebacker to end full-time.

There’s also Mario Edwards, Jr. and the recently signed Tank Carradine. None of these players has the same clot Mack does, so it will be interesting to see how they hold up without him. Or will the team decide that the holdout needs to end quickly once they see their line without him?