Derek Carr: Khalil Mack could smash NFL sack record if refs actually called holding

Derek Carr would like to see the refs actually throw some flags in Khalil Mack's favor

Before last season started, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr boldly predicted that teammate Khalil Mack would smash the NFL's single-season sack record in 2016 by racking up 30 sacks.  

Although Mack had a huge season -- and eventually took home the NFL 2016 Defensive Player of the Year Award -- he didn't quite hit Carr's predicted total. Mack ended up finishing the year with 11 sacks, which was well short of Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22.5. 

Despite the fact that Mack came nowhere near Carr's predicted number, the Raiders quarterback has decided to go out on a limb for his teammate and make another bold prediction. 

During a recent interview on Mad Dog Sports Radio with Adam Schein, Carr was asked to predict how many sacks Mack will get in 2017.  

"I'm still sticking with my 30 number. Because we know this is going to blow up, I'm gonna say 30," Carr said, via NFL.com. 

Carr then added that there's one giant caveat to his prediction: The refs actually have to do their jobs and call penalties. 

"That's if he doesn't get held," Carr said. "If they start calling the holdings, if they start calling them like they should -- I'm saying 30."

I have to admit, I like Carr's style here: Call out the refs and then cross your fingers and hope that the league office will encourage officials to call more holding penalties against unstoppable defensive players like Mack. 

On the other hand, if I'm Mack, I'm thinking that it's probably time to ask Carr to shoot a little lower with his predictions. Not only have there been zero players in NFL history who have reached the 30-sack mark in one season, there hasn't even been a player who's reached 23 sacks. 

As a matter of fact, only 10 players in NFL history have even reached the 20-sack mark. Of course, if Mack were to somehow get 30 sacks this season, that would put him in a good spot to earn one of the biggest contracts in NFL history come next year. Our Jared Dubin recently took a look at what kind of contract Mack might eventually get (think six-years, $116 million-ish) and if you add a 30-sack season to the negotiations, you can bet Mack's agent will expect the Raiders to toss in some more cash.