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Coming off historic season, Raiders' Khalil Mack poised for even bigger things

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Mack: It's all about team (2:19)

Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack tells Paul Gutierrez that the atmosphere around the team right now is great and how everyone is competing to get better and not worry about where the franchise could play in the future. (2:19)

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- When last we checked in with Khalil Mack, at the start of the Oakland Raiders' offseason workout program, he was still trying to wrap his mind around making history.

He was not sure, he said at the time, what it meant to be the first player in the NFL to be voted All-Pro at two different positions -- outside linebacker and defensive end -- in the same season. Did the voters make a mistake or was he truly deserving of such accolades?

Two weeks into organized team activities (OTAs), Mack has moved on.

“That’s over, that was last year,” Mack said this week. “We’re looking forward to getting better, man. You could say that’s a great accomplishment but it’s all about team, and going out and getting wins and creating that environment where guys want to win.”

Many observers have noticed a sea change, of sorts, in Silver and Blackdom, with Mack at the forefront defensively. He is coming off a 15-sack season in just his second year in the NFL. With the addition of free-agent Bruce Irvin from Seattle, Mack is expected to be even more of a force this season.

“On the field, [Mack] is more power and I’m more of a speed guy,” Irvin said. “I think we’re a great complement to each other. I really expect us to do a lot of great things this year.”

But talking about it and doing it are two different matters, Mack said.

“You’ve got to put it on the film [by] putting in the work on the field right now,” he said. “That’s what we’re all doing right now, putting in great work, working with the best offense in the league and getting better.

“We’re competing right now. It’s all about using that guy across from you to get better.”

Mack specifically mentioned left tackle Donald Penn and right tackle Menelik Watson.

What has not been uttered much around the locker room, despite it being seemingly daily Las Vegas fodder, is the specter of relocation, the Raiders becoming the Sin City Silver and Black.

So how does a young, impressionable team block it out?

“Coach [Jack Del Rio] says all the time, it’s tunnel vision,” Mack said. “Tunnel vision focusing in on what we need to do as a team and coming in here every day and doing our jobs. Doing it to the best of our abilities is … all you need to focus on. More than anything, you need to focus on that.

“So we’re not really worried about the move, the transition. We’re worried about winning football games.”

Yes, in June. Check back in September.