Jon Gruden fights perception there's disconnect with Reggie McKenzie: ‘People are trying to divide us'

ALAMEDA – The Raiders power structure shifted when Jon Gruden returned as head coach. General manager Reggie McKenzie used to make decisions on personnel and money allocated to players.

Gruden now has final say. If his $100 million contract didn’t spell that out, owner Mark Davis did. He told me in March that McKenzie’s role had changed, and that Gruden was ultimately in charge of assembling the team.

Roles of head coach and GM are different now, but Gruden and McKenzie have said several times they are a unified front making collaborative decisions.

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The Khalil Mack trade brought up questions of a disconnect between the two.

Mack is McKenzie’s finest draft pick, someone he is proud of as a player and person. McKenzie talked extensively over the last year about getting Mack locked up long term, and seemed confident in his ability to get that done.

It didn’t happen. Mack was sent to Chicago on Saturday for a compensation package that included two first-round picks.

Did Gruden drive this trade? He was asked directly if he was a stronger proponent of this trade than his general manager.

The head coach fought against that perception in no uncertain terms.

“They're trying to divide us,” Gruden said. “People are trying to divide us – ‘I wanted (Mack) gone, he wanted him here.’ We made a decision as an organization. Mark Davis, Tom Delaney, we all got the information and we made a decision, together. And I'll just say what (Reggie) said – I read what he said yesterday – it's a decision that we all came to.”

Head coach and GM actually had some differences explaining the Mack deal.

McKenzie said Saturday after the trade that the six-year, $137 million Aaron Donald deal struck a day before had nothing to do with trading Mack. Gruden said “that pretty much set the stage” for Mack’s movement.

McKenzie said the $125 million contract extension given to Derek Carr last summer didn’t play a role in extension talks with Mack. Gruden agreed that there are difficulties paying two players top-of-the-market money: “There’s no mystery in that.”

Gruden also said he was not involved in the decision to include a second-round pick in the deal to Chicago in the Mack trade. He was not involved in day-to-day negotiations with Mack’s camp or the Bears, which makes sense. Everyone has a role, and Gruden’s focused on running the football team.

“Reggie and Tom Delaney and the people that negotiate were involved in that,” Gruden said. “I know there's maybe some feeling that maybe I was involved in a day-to-day negotiation. I had nothing to do with it. We were at a standoff and something had to happen and here we are.”

Gruden also used great candor describing issues with the roster as a whole. His points, while valid, weren’t always kind to McKenzie’s draft picks. Recent actions have done the same, jettisoning second-round picks from 2015-17 since he arrived.

That’s why, Gruden says, his 53-man roster is the NFL’s oldest and why getting significant draft capital for Mack was a proper choice.

“We’re getting these draft choices. We’re trying to hit on the draft. We’re trying to draft and develop,” Gruden said. “Obviously, the last three draft classes we haven’t got a lot of production out of yet. I don’t think there’s anybody left from the ‘13 draft. The ‘15, ‘16, ‘17 drafts, not much production at all. With that being said, you have to fill holes. Sometimes you have to fill those holes in free agency. Some of those guys that are free agents are a little bit older. That’s one of the reasons why we’re a little bit older than some teams. We do have some good veteran players and good veteran leadership and we’re anxious to get started.”

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