Bill Belichick on Khalil Mack: I'm Not Putting Anyone in Lawrence Taylor's Class

Khalil Mack may be one of the NFL's best players, but New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick pumped the breaks on comparing the Chicago Bears linebacker to one of the greatest at his position. 

"Wait a minute, we're talking about Lawrence Taylor now," Belichick said Wednesday when asked about stacking Mack up against the eight-time All-Pro pass-rusher, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. "I'm not putting anybody in (LT's) class. Put everybody down below that. With a lot of respect to a lot of good players, we're talking about Lawrence Taylor."

Mack has undoubtedly achieved a lot through his first five seasons. He was a two-time All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler and recorded 40.5 sacks in four years with the Oakland Raiders. Five games into his Bears tenure, he's on his way to another Pro Bowl, posting five sacks, one interception and one defensive touchdown.

Belichick is right, though, to stop short of putting Mack and Taylor in the same category.

"Lawrence Taylor, defensively, has had as big an impact as any player I've ever seen," Hall of Fame head coach John Madden once said of LT. "He changed the way defense is played, the way pass-rushing is played, the way linebackers play and the way offenses block linebackers."

Taylor is tied for 13th in career sacks (132.5), and his final total would've been higher were it not for the ruptured Achilles tendon in 1992 that hastened his decline and eventual retirement after the 1993 season. The NFL didn't start recording sacks until 1982, either, a year after Taylor entered the league.

As good as Mack is, Taylor was a force of nature on the field. The NFL may never see another pass-rusher as feared as LT.