Raiders' Khalil Mack out of Pro Bowl because of injury
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Oakland Raiders All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack has opted out of playing in the Pro Bowl due to an undisclosed injury, a league source confirmed.
The New York Jets initially said Mack was out in their announcement that Jets defensive lineman Leonard Williams was replacing him.
Mack, a leading candidate for NFL defensive player of the year, led the Raiders with 11 sacks this past season and had an eight-game sack streak that included three straight games with a strip sack. He led the league with 96 quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus, and was PFF's highest-graded edge rusher with an overall number of 93.6.
While Mack was as disruptive as ever down the stretch for Oakland, he did not have a sack in the wild-card Raiders' final four games, including last weekend's 27-14 playoff loss at the Houston Texans.
The Raiders, who finished 12-4 for their first winning season and postseason appearance since 2002, had a league-high seven Pro Bowlers selected -- Mack, quarterback Derek Carr, receiver Amari Cooper, left tackle Donald Penn, All-Pro left guard Kelechi Osemele, center Rodney Hudson and free safety Reggie Nelson.
But Mack bowing out of the league's all-star game, which will take place in Orlando on Jan. 29, marks the second Raiders player who will not participate, along with Carr, who is recovering from a broken right leg suffered on Dec. 24.
Raiders coach Jack Del Rio was asked in his season-ending media conference if he expected any medical procedures for players.
"I think there are a couple guys that are getting MRI's [Monday] to try and decide if surgery is needed," Del Rio said. "There might be a couple clean-up things going on, but I don't know that there's anything major going on right now."
