How Khalil Mack Put His Brother Through "the Grind"
Ledarius Mack signed with the Bears as an undrafted free agent, and then the grind began.
"So pretty much I shipped my car to Chicago from Buffalo and I flew here," Mack said. "I flew here and that's when the grind started.
"Just every day it was like two-a-days in college. It was like every day, work out, lift, run. Yeah. So that's when it started. And it was definitely a lot of work put in up to this point."
He wasn't talking about training camp grind. It was offseason grind. Ledarius had entered Camp Khalil.
Khalil Mack's little brother benefited from seeing how his older brother gets ready for the season, and Khalil's workout regimen is the stuff of Walter Payton and his hill.
"We were together," Ledarius said. "We were together every time. Everywhere he went, I was there."
Ledarius Mack faces a difficult challenge making the 53-man roster with five veteran edge rushers ahead of him. His brother, Robert Quinn, Barkevious Mingo, Isaiah Irving and James Vaughters all have experience edges. Rookie Trevis Gipson has the advantage of being a fifth-round draft pick who the Bears spent a 2021 fourth-rounder to acquire. He's also undersized for a pass rusher at 6-foot-1, 240 pounds.
So Ledarius Mack knew he had to absorb as much of what his brother had to offer about conditioning.
"He just honestly he has shown me what hard work is, and never shy away from it, always embrace it," Ledarius said. "Yah know?
"There are going to be those days when you're going to hit a wall. But he has showed me how to work through those things.
"He just gave me that mentality of just break through every door—every-door mentality. That's just how I look at it, from that standpoint."
And for this Ledarius is grateful.
"It's a true blessing," Ledarius said. "He's truly that light. Definitely has helped me out through my whole football experience.
"It's not just coming here. He has always been involved in some type of way. So, I can't thank him enough and it's just a blessing."
Ledarius has impressed his brother with what he's shown at camp.
"He's jumping out on film," Khalil Mack said. "Very explosive. Very explosive. You could tell that he's talented."
Making the roster for Ledarius is unlikely to hinge on his explosiveness in pass rush.
"The thing that's gonna affect that decision, it's gonna come down to special teams, how he'll be used out there or whatever that may be," Khalil Mack said. "But all in all, from what I've seen, I'm proud of him.
"He likes to make plays and I can only think it's got something to do with bloodline. I'm not gonna take any credit."
It seems his brother has already given it.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
