Good Preseason
Mack quietly played well this preseason but the big numbers and big plays just weren’t there for the rookie linebacker. Those that weren’t truly watching him made the argument that No. 5 overall picks aren’t supposed to do anything quietly. That’s not a bad argument but the counter to that is he executed all of his assignments very well in the preseason.
Mack did have the interception against the Green Bay Packers while no one counts the sack against the Detroit Lions. Getting a sack against an opposing team’s 3rd-string lineman isn’t going to do anything for any fan looking for greatness. But the preseason is for seeing what a player can do and Tarver already knew that he could rush the passers.
So while running a vanilla 4-3 he found out he was great in coverage and against the run as he consistently set his edge. That’s a good thing to know about a linebacker, especially if he is needed in coverage for a certain game or situation. Plus it was the preseason so Tarver was content to stay vanilla and let Mack put his hand in the dirt on third down. We are seeing now that Mack’s preseason was a product of getting comfortable along with the nature of the preseason where teams are trying to get familiar rather than to go out and make plays at full speed on every snap.