A few months ago, the Oakland Raiders carefully waded through possible destinations for star pass-rusher Khalil Mack, hoping to find a team that would net them the most value for future draft picks. The Chicago Bears haven't complied. With the Bears soaring to the top of their division, Oakland's in line to receive a pick in the 20s from them.
When they acquired wide receiver Amari Cooper from the Raiders, the Cowboys were mired in mediocrity. Now they lead their division, too.
Does the success of Chicago and Dallas make owner Mark Davis regret the trades?
"But we're doing a good job of getting ourselves a high pick," Davis joked at the Winter League Meeting this week in Dallas.
He did admit he monitors the results of the two trade partners closely.
It's evident Davis doesn't regret the trades. The deals did stock Oakland with three extra first-round picks, which Davis noted the team hasn't had since they traded Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That time, of course, they came away with almost nothing in the end.
"And what did we do with that?" Davis asked. "You gotta get it right."
Asked if he was surprised they ended up with two firsts for Mack and another first-rounder for Cooper, Davis credited since-fired general manager Reggie McKenzie for making the moves.
"It was all Reggie doing those deals," he said. "He seemed really happy about it."
Cooper, of course, has become a star in Dallas. In six games, he has 40 catches for 642 yards and a whopping six TDs. Obviously, he's been more productive there, so far, than he was during his up-and-down tenure with the Raiders.
"Amari had a couple of good years with us and a couple of not-so-good years," Davis said. "It was more how he was used in our system vs. how he actually is as a player. As you see we don't throw a lot of balls down the field. We started to last week and it worked out pretty well. ... I think (Al Davis) would've loved Amari. But it just didn't work out in our system.
"In the future, we might be saying, 'Damn!'"
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