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Khalil Mack‘s holdout is 20 days and counting, and since the Raiders and Mack’s representation haven’t talked since February, who knows when it ends.

But distraction? What distraction?

“I don’t think it’s been a distraction,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “It’s obviously, for me, been disappointing. You want to have your best player here. This guy is really a great guy, too. I’m disappointed we don’t have him here. Going to try to get him here as soon as we can. In the time being, you’ve got to move on. You’ve got to get up and go to work. That’s one thing I’m very proud of what we’ve done here.”

Mack also skipped the team’s offseason work, including the mandatory minicamp.

Gruden said early in training camp the Raiders “weren’t very good last year on defense with Khalil Mack.” While that’s true, here’s a prediction: The Raiders defense will be worse without Mack.

Mack, 27, earned the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award in 2016. He has 40.5 sacks since he entered the league, with double-digit sack seasons the past three seasons.

The Raiders need him.