EL SEGUNDO — Tuli Tuipulotu said the other day that he hoped fellow Chargers outside linebacker Khalil Mack would stick around and play their physically demanding position for another five years. If so, if Mack did manage to play until he was 40, then it would make him the rarest of all NFL players, a middle-aged man playing a kids’ game.
Then again, Mack is something of a unicorn.
“I feel 21, man,” he said earlier this week. “I feel young and ready to go.”
Mack doesn’t look 21, but he doesn’t look 35, his true age, either.
If he bears the scars of 12 seasons in the NFL, including the past four with the Chargers, then they are buried deep inside that chiseled, well-maintained hulk of a body. The Chargers list Mack as 6-foot-3 and 269 pounds. Maybe the height is fudged, but the weight is not.
Watch him closely, though.
See how he leads the group of edge rushers through a drill on another hot September day at the Chargers’ practice facility. He’s always up first, darting through weighted bags, tackling dummies, assistant coaches, as if he is a much younger man, with much more to prove.
“Priceless, priceless,” was how Chargers defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary described Mack’s presence on the field, in the weight room, in meetings and in the locker room.
“He’s a very obvious inspiration,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said of Mack’s influence on teammates young and old, inexperienced and experienced alike.
If it seems Mack has slowed at all going into his 13th NFL season, after four with the then-Oakland Raiders, four with the Chicago Bears and now his fifth with the Chargers, then it might be because others have taken up the slack. Tuipulotu, in particular, seems poised to inherit his mantle.
Last season might have signaled a turning point in their careers. Mack injured his elbow in a victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2 and sat out for four games. He would record a total of 5.5 sacks by season’s end, down from six in 2024 and a career-high of 17 in 2023.
Tuipulotu assumed the lead role with Mack sidelined and continued it throughout the 2025 season, recording a career-high 13 sacks. Tuipulotu, not Mack, was selected to the Pro Bowl. Mack had been there nine times, including three in a row while with the Chargers.
And now, with the Chargers’ home-opening game Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium? How does Mack feel going into the season, with a new defensive coordinator after Jesse Minter left in January to become the Baltimore Ravens’ head coach?
“Ultimately, it starts this week, it starts against the Arizona Cardinals,” Mack said of why he chose to re-sign with the Chargers on a one-season, $18 million contract. “We’re getting ready to win this game, first and foremost, but you can’t get too far ahead of yourself.”
Asked again what brought him back to the Chargers, he said without the slightest bit of hesitation, “You want to win. You want to win with this group of guys, this coaching staff (Harbaugh and his assistants), the GM (Joe Hortiz), the ownership (Dean Spanos). I want to win. I want to win.”
The Chargers have been winners in three of Mack’s first four seasons with the team, including matching 11-win seasons during the first two years of the Harbaugh/Hortiz regime. They also have made the playoffs in three of four seasons, but they have not advanced.
In fact, Mack is 0-6 in the playoffs in his Hall of Fame-caliber career.
“I’m excited, man,” Mack said about the upcoming challenges. “It’s always exciting this time of the year. But, ultimately, it’s just about getting prepared. I’m excited about the preparation and what it takes to get ready throughout the week, and Sunday, put it all on display. I feel young. I’m excited.”
INJURY REPORT
The Chargers ruled cornerback and special teams standout Deane Leonard out of Sunday’s game against the Cardinals because of an abdominal injury. They also listed Tuipulotu was questionable to play because of a hip injury. Harbaugh said he didn’t know when Tuipulotu was hurt.