4 players Raiders gave up on too early

Khalil Mack, EDGE

Finally, we get to an absolute game wrecker in Khalil Mack, whom the Raiders were smart enough to draft out of Buffalo back in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Before we get into what he did as a Raider, let's just play a game of "what if?"

Had the Raiders not traded Mack, what would have happened to his career trajectory? Because, after Mack was traded, he went on to have just one double-digit sack finish in the next five years, and that was his first year in Chicago where he tallied 12.5.

Were the Raiders simply the place where Mack could excel? Did something happen along the way to affect his game, physically or mentally? Sure, he was still an extremely disruptive player after leaving the Raiders. But, there's no denying that his production dipped.

As a Raider, Mack was a two-time All Pro and notched double-digit sacks in three of his four seasons there. He was a mauler. He was as feared as any defensive player in the game while with the black and silver.

The Raiders would trade him to Chicago in the infamous deal for a haul of picks, which Oakland would go on to botch, for the most part. We know the story. It was essentially Mack for Josh Jacobs, when it was all said and done, and that's not exactly a fair deal.

The Raiders could have continued to try and build a franchise with Mack as a cornerstone, but instead gave him up and hardly used the draft capital correctly.