Oakland Raiders: Jon Gruden throws Reggie McKenzie under the bus

Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden made sure that it was clear that he did not have a hand in the most baffling part of the Khalil Mack trade.

The argument could be made that the Oakland Raiders trading away Khalil Mack at all was a massive mistake. After all, even with getting two first-round picks in return from the Chicago Bears, they dealt away one of the best defensive players in the NFL. That in itself is enough to make you question the decision making that went into the trade.

However, perhaps the most perplexing aspect of the (or)deal was what the Raiders sent to Chicago in addition to Mack. Sure, sending the Bears a 2020 fifth-round pick is almost negligible — but they also sent a 2020 second-rounder as well. That part, given all of this, is indefensible on the part of the Raiders.

Considering that the Mack trade and other questionable decisions have been made since the arrival of new head coach Jon Gruden, much of the blame has been put on him by the media and the public. However, when talking about the trade, specifically the second-round pick that they sent to Chicago, Gruden wasted little time in absolving himself by throwing someone else under the bus. Namely, general manager Reggie McKenzie.

When asked about the Mack trade and the second-rounder, Gruden had this to say, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter:

It might be just a small bit of information there, but there’s undoubtedly a lot to unpack. First and foremost of which is the fact that the subtext of that statement is, “that wasn’t me, that was the general manager that made that mistake.” Gruden is essentially saying that the worst part of a trade that seems bad as a whole is on McKenzie, not him.

That alone is a bad look for this organization as they just traded away their best player. Now, not only are they a team that seemingly won’t pony up big money to a superstar at this point, but they are also a team where apparently the general manager and head coach aren’t communicating about massive personnel moves. Moreover, they also come off as an organization that, frankly, looks like it’s being run in a juvenile manner where the blame-game is played.

What Gruden says goes a bit deeper than that, however. Given how much the Raiders are paying him and everything we’ve heard out of Oakland, can you really take his word about that pick? It’s been quite clear that he has a heavy influence in personnel decisions since taking over. So then how are we to believe that he wasn’t heavily involved in every aspect of the personnel decision?

Simply put, logic says that there’s almost no way that Gruden didn’t know. But even if that is the case, none of this looks good for the Raiders. Either he’s lying about what he knew and throwing his GM under the bus, or he’s being truthful and throwing his GM under the bus. No matter which is the case, it’s clear that the second Jon Gruden era for the Oakland Raiders is already mired in dysfunction.