ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Oakland Raiders linebacker Khalil Mack came up short in his bid for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, but that shouldn’t diminish anything that Mack accomplished this season, nor does it take away from what should be a bright future for the former first-round draft pick.

Mack was arguably Oakland’s best defensive player during his first year in the NFL. He had 75 tackles and four sacks, though those numbers tell only part of the story. The 6-foot-3, 252-pound strongside linebacker had an eye-popping 40 quarterback hurries, according to Pro Football Focus.

The Raiders say that Khalil Mack 's intelligence helped him grow quickly as a rookie. AP Images/Ben Margot

Still, the fifth overall pick in the draft finished third in the voting for Defensive Rookie of the Year behind St. Louis defensive lineman Aaron Donald and Baltimore inside linebacker C.J. Mosley. Donald received 25 of the possible 50 votes; Mosley had 18 while Mack got just six -- a shockingly low number considering how well Mack played.

Teammate and close friend Justin Tuck didn’t let that deter his thoughts on Mack’s rookie campaign and he said he believes the young linebacker can be the cornerstone of the Raiders' defense for years to come.

"I’ve watched a lot of film on guys like Derrick Thomas, Lawrence Taylor ... I’m not saying that he will be that player, I’m saying he’s capable of being that player," Tuck said last week during Super Bowl festivities. "Believe me, I know what praise I just gave him. I know what category I just potentially put him into. The thing I love about him that people don’t get to see every day is not the fact that he’s an absolute physical specimen. It’s not that. It’s that he’s smart, he understands the game, but he also understands that he doesn’t know it all."

Tuck played a big role in Mack’s rapid development. The two players had adjoining lockers during the 2014 season -- a move the coaching staff made to help Mack learn the ropes in the NFL -- and the Oakland rookie would routinely pick Tuck’s brain about an upcoming opponent, schemes and about life in general.

That Mack didn’t win the coveted award is just a blip on an otherwise impressive and promising season.

And he’s intent on getting better, according to Tuck.

"He comes into meeting rooms, he’ll call me on Friday night before we come in on Saturday to finish everything going into our game and say, ‘I’ve got a question about this,'" Tuck said. "From my experiences, guys like that are going to be very successful. I don’t know what success that includes him to be. I don’t know if that’s a Hall of Fame guy. I don’t know if that’s multiple Pro Bowls, I don’t know if that’s just he’s a quality football player. But I know for a fact he’s going to be successful, because barring injury, I have no problem of saying he has the capability to be one of the best defensive players in this league for a long time."