Is Khalil Mack The Real Deal?

Mock drafts, player profiles and analysis from every direction is what many look forward to this time of year. Myself included I believe the NFL draft is one of the best times of the year. The ability to watch what direction teams will go to build into the future. Being from the Buffalo area I will always watch the Bills to see what they do but this year will be a little bit different. Khalil Mack OLB from the University of Buffalo has the chance to possibly go in the top 10 if not higher. I have seen some say he’s worthy of the first overall pick but we are just going to see what happens. Is Mack for real is something I think about when looking at the top tier players projected to come out this May?

As I stated Mack played his college ball at the University of Buffalo (The Bulls) in the Mid-American Conference. Since his time there he’s has dominated and created a ton of havoc on the field. It seemed every year Mack greatly improved his stats and his maturity in becoming a great all round player. That being said Mack capped of his college career winning the MAC defensive player of the year award for the 2013-2014 season. Becoming that all-round defensive force along with his leadership showed many that he was ready to venture into the NFL.

As Mack leaves the Bulls he has broke some records and I believe some may not be broken for some years. Careers records include: most tackles for a loss 75, most sacks at 28.5 and also most forced fumbles 16. Both the tackles for loss and the most forced fumbles are also records for the NCAA as well.

Looking at his playing ability Mack definitely offers more positives than negatives but nonetheless every player has things about them that make them stand out from each other. For the people that don’t know that much about him here are some things to take a look at as will multiple organizations come May.

Positives: Great instincts of the game, good speed, tracks the ball well, great moves off the line of scrimmage, all-round great player that will force teams to game plan around him

Negatives: Some say playing in the MAC didn’t allow him to play the best players, can play a bit reckless and over pursue the ball at times

So as you can see the positives greatly outweigh the negatives and I seriously believe he will be a force in the NFL. His raw skill will let him compete in the league from day one and I believe who lands him may get the best player in the draft. Looking at everything he offers he could be that missing piece a defense needs to become elite or to push them over the top.