It's hard to say that a player is going to "breakout" after a stellar rookie season. That initial year kind of serves as the breaking out point. But Oakland Raiders second-year linebacker Khalil Mack can follow up an impressive rookie year with a possibly dominant sophomore campaign.
Mack finished third in NFL defensive rookie of the year voting last year behind St. Louis' Aaron Donald and Baltimore's C.J. Mosley. He racked up 75 tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble and proved to be a defensive building block for the young and developing Raiders. But even more impressive numbers could be coming for him this season.
"This year the Raiders have much bigger expectations for Mack, especially with new head coach Jack Del Rio starting his first season and defensive coordinator Ken Norton installing new schemes," ESPN's Jeff Chadiha wrote. "Del Rio wouldn't give any specifics on how Mack's role would change but he did make it apparent that Mack won't spend enarly as much time in pass coverage as he did in 2014. This time around, Mack will be chasing quarterbacks as much as possible, which is something he did quite well when given the chance, even if the sacik totals don't look significant. Mack had 40 QB hurries last season so go with his exceptional run defending."
Del Rio was the defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos from 2012-14 and in that time linebacker Von Miller collected 37.5 sacks in 41 games. Oakland's new head coach thinks Mack can be that same type of player.
"I think Khalil is way more physical than Von," Del Rio said. "Von got up to somewhere around 250 pounds when I had him but he's naturally closer to 240. Khalil can be up around 260 or 265 and they both play that strongside linebacker position and sub-pass-rusher role. Since most teams use their sub packages for two-thirds of the game, there will be some opportunities there. They're different but they're both special."
Even Mack himself is looking forward to his increased pass-rushing duties this year.
"I definitely want to get after the quarterback more this year," he said. "I got some hits [in 2014], but people didn't really see what I can do. Those sack numbers I had really weren't me. At the end of the day, you want people to see you at your best."
