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The Oakland Raiders have one of the most promising young teams in the NFL. The current squad is led by a franchise quarterback in Derek Carr and arguably the best defensive player in the league, Khalil Mack.
New head coach Jon Gruden was drawn back to the storied franchise for a number of different reasons including the perk of coaching Mack and Carr. In Gruden's first wide-ranging interview with Jerry McDonald of The Mercury News, the one-time Super Bowl champion sang the praises of his two best players, especially Mack.
“I think we’ve got a great young quarterback. I think that’s enough to be excited about. I think a lot of our center. I think the quarteback-center (Rodney Hudson) battery is as good as I’ve ever had in football. I’m really excited about the two guards (Kelechi Osemele, Gabe Jackson), obviously. That’s the strength of this team. And Khalil Mack, I think he’s a proven superstar football player. I think the excitement around working with Amari Cooper is just certainly pretty cool. I got to bump into Crabtree. Hopefully we can get the best out of Crabtree and his career. There’s some people in place, but we’ve got a number of issues that are concerning right now and we’re focusing on them.”
In 2014, Mack burst on the scene in Oakland and exceeded expectations after the Raiders selected him with the fifth overall pick in the NFL Draft that year. Oakland also selected Carr in the same draft which became the turning point for the struggling franchise.
In only four seasons with the Raiders, Mack has been named an All-Pro twice while earning Pro Bowl honors three times and the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2016. Mack has a bright future in this league and may take his game to another level if Gruden can surround him with talent on the defensive side of the football.
Gruden and company have their work cut out for them to improve on defensively, but they've got the pieces to build around with Mack living up to the superstar status he's been given by his new head coach.
