Bucky Brooks Doesn’t Buy Into the Khalil Mack Hype

Boy, oh boy, did the Oakland Raiders get jobbed last season. When Reggie McKenzie took LB Khalil Mack with the fifth overall pick in last year’s draft, they thought they were getting a dominant, disruptive force for a defense that sorely needed one. Clearly, the joke is on Oakland.

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At least, it is, according to NFL Network analyst, Bucky Brooks.

In a series of recent Tweets, Brooks held court and delivered his opinion that the Raiders got little more than a “complementary” player when they selected Mack.

Brooks went on to say that, rather than the dominant force they believed him to be, they were getting the second coming of former Bengal, and current San Francisco 49ers LB, Ahmad Brooks.

According to Brooks’ “logic,” as he clarified in a subsequent Tweet, because Mack didn’t deliver ten plus sacks in 2014, he can’t be considered a dominant or disruptive force on the defensive side of the ball. Brooks seems to suggest that because he didn’t hit double digit sacks, Mack is more of a simple role player on defense, and one who can’t thrive without another blue chipper on the edge.

Rather than pile on with a bunch of four letter words – that was already taken care of by some of the more passionate Raider fans, thanks – let’s instead, break down Brooks’ argument against Mack as a dominant defensive force.

First of all, in some regard, every single player on the defense is a “complementary” player. Every single one. It’s almost as if Brooks was attempting to throw out big words to either try to confuse people and/or make his argument sound more credible. The word “complementary” simply means, “combining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize the qualities of each other or another.”

So from that perspective, yes, Mack is a complementary piece on the Raiders’ defense. As are Justin Tuck, Sio Moore, Justin Ellis, Travis Carrie, Miles Burris, C.J. Wilson, D.J. Hayden, Charles Woodson, and the new guys like Dan Williams, Malcolm Smith, Curtis Lofton – you get the point.

But simply being a “complementary” piece does not preclude a player from also being a “dominant” piece, as Brooks seems to suggest. And despite the fact that Mack did not ring up double digit sacks in 2014, he was flat out dominant in a lot of other categories.

For instance, Brooks mentions Broncos’ stud Von Miller as an example of a dominant defensive player. Yet Pro Football Focus – unless they have some pro-Raider bias we’re not aware of – ranked Mack as the highest rated outside linebacker in the NFL both against the run, and overall.

Aug 8, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel (16) avoids Oakland Raiders linebacker Khalil Mack (52) who is blocked by tight end Kyle Rudolph (82) but eventually gets sacked in the first quarter at TCF Bank Stadium. Vikings win 10-6. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

According to PFF, Mack had an overall rating of 56.4, while Miller had an overall rating of 55.7. Against the run, Mack’s numbers were even better, earning a rating of 47.4, while Miller tallied a rating of 22.0.

Brooks goes on to talk about dominant edge players drafted within the top five over the last 15 years. He mentions Mario Williams, Julius Peppers, and Chris Long. While Peppers really was a flat out athletic freak and racked up 12 sacks his rookie season, both Long and Williams put up numbers almost exactly like Mack’s in their rookie years.

Long compiled a rookie stat line that read, 40 tackles, four sacks, and one forced fumble. Williams’ rookie line read 47 tackles, four and a half sacks, one forced fumble. For the record, Mack’s rookie stat line reads, 75 tackles, four sacks, one forced fumble.

So using Brooks’ logic, one would have to wonder why he considers Williams and Long dominant edge players, while Mack is simply a “complementary” piece?

Oh, it should also be pointed out that in seven seasons in the NFL, Long has compiled just two seasons with ten sacks or more, and in nine, Williams has had five seasons with double digit sacks. So exactly where is Books setting the bar for dominance and why does that bar seem to change for a given player?

Brooks also goes on to say that Mack wasn’t the type of player that opposing offensive coordinator’s had to worry about and that his presence on the field never forced them to “alter their plan of attack” to account for him. And perhaps even more ridiculously, Brooks goes on to imply that Mack wasn’t enough of a menace on defense to consistently draw double teams from opposing offenses.

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It really makes you wonder if Brooks actually watched any tape of Mack and the Raiders last season, or if he’s simply pulling his arguments out of that orifice he usually sits on.

The fact of that matter is that Mack actually did consistently draw double, and sometimes even triple teams. Brooks would do well to go break down some tape to verify the veracity of that statement.

Oakland had a lot of problems on the defensive side of the ball in 2014, or to use Brooks’ parlance, they didn’t have a lot of solid “complementary” players who could eat up opposing QB’s when Mack was tied up with two and sometimes three opposing linemen. He set the table, but nobody came to eat.

A simple look at some of the numbers he piled up during his rookie season – a season in which the Raiders’ defense was terrible for much of it – reveals that despite Brooks’ naysaying, Mack was pretty dominant in a lot of ways.

According to STATS, Inc., Mack was second among all players in the NFL, in “stuffs” with 11.5 – “stuffs” defined as tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage. He was third in the league in number of defensive stops against the run with 42. Mack also led the Raiders’ defense with 51 QB pressures and 25 QB hits. And according to PFF, Mack was second in the NFL with 40 QB hurries – second only to Von Miller who had 47.

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No, he may not have hit double digit sacks, but Mack’s presence was felt all over the field, and his performance was impressive enough to draw praise from all around the league. Here is just a small sampling of what some said about Mack last season:

"“Talking to the guys in the locker room, he gained the respect of everybody on our team. That guy 52, Khalil Mack, is one of the best players we’ve gone against this year and that’s a unanimous decision in that locker room. He gained all of our respect, and we knew coming in he was going to be a tough player.” – Browns QB Brian Hoyer, Oct. 26, 2014“I think he’s really good. He jumps off the film. Every one of our coaches, when they break up and start looking at the Raiders and taking seriously what they’re doing well, everybody comes back talking about him. He’s almost unblockable and he’s got a great motor. He’s fast, he’s tough, he’s instinctive. We think he’s an obvious factor.” – Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll, Oct. 29, 2014“I think he is going to be one of the most complete, dominant linebackers we’ve ever seen. He is just a phenomenal football player. I’ve never seen a linebacker make this type of easy transition to the NFL.” – ESPN Analyst and former NFL RB Merril Hoge, Nov. 4, 2014"

Seems like most people who aren’t Bucky Brooks are sold on Mack being the league’s next dominant linebacker, doesn’t it?

All of that being said, the Raiders will need to do a better job as a defense of putting themselves in a position to allow guys like Mack, Tuck, Moore, etc., to have a run at the quarterback. They absolutely must do a better job of pressuring and hitting the opposing QB’s.

With just 22 sacks as a team last season, opposing offenses had far too much time to sit back and pick apart the Oakland defense. With the Raiders set to rely very heavily on their pair of talented, but still unproven corners in Carrie and Hayden, the pressure is on the front seven to really disrupt and throw a wrench into their opposition’s passing game. It is critical that they do so. And with players who can push the pocket and draw double teams like Williams and Ellis, it should free up the pass rushers to make the charge at the quarterback.

Also benefiting not just Mack, but the Oakland defense as a whole, is a coaching staff that is both experienced and defensive minded. Too many times last season, the Oakland defense looked lost, confused, and unsure of their game plan – or if they even really had one. They spent far too much time reacting rather than attacking. But with former players like HC Jack Del Rio and DC Ken Norton running the show in Oakland now, expect the Raiders’ defense to be far more aggressive, and really take it to the opposing offense.

Many of Brooks’ arguments can be rendered invalid with a simple look at the numbers. Mack matches up pretty favorably with the guys Brooks does claim are “elite” pass rushers. He may not see him as a dominant player now, or ever. But to write him off as a second tier talent after just one season – especially when the facts don’t exactly match up with the assertions – is just ignorant. And the fact that Brooks declined to take all of the factors and issues that went into Oakland’s defense in 2014 when crafting his argument just speaks to lazy journalism.

Brooks may not be sold on Mack as a dominant defensive player and that’s okay. We’re all entitled to our own opinions no matter how wrong they may be. But Raider fans everywhere will be looking forward to the day when Brooks begins to write about how he knew Mack would be a dominant force in the NFL from the get-go.

After all, it’s not like it would be the first time he tried to shift his opinion about a player and hoped that nobody would notice.

Next: Draft Day Swap A Bad Idea For Oakland