Raiders top draft pick comes from Buffalo but he grew up in Fort Pierce Florida. The closest NFL team to Fort Pierce is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so that's the team he grew up rooting for.
The Buccaneers have one Super Bowl to their credit and Mack was eleven years old at the time. The team on the other end of that was the Raiders and when Mack met with the Raiders brass at the combine, he had an awkward moment where he was asked what his earliest football memory was.
"Our combine meeting was very funny, man," Mack said with a laugh. "That's the thing, from that aspect I didn't think it would go well saying that they got beat up by Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl. I was like ‘woe', they were like ‘you're in the wrong room' and everyone starts laughing. That speaks to what type of people they are in this building. Great people. Some of the best and I'm proud to be a part of this great organization."
Despite the awkward moment, the Raiders were not dissuaded from signing the standout linebacker. And in doing so, Mack takes his first trip to California. Before Friday, he'd never even been in the Pacific Time zone.
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