It’s a fully-guaranteed deal for Mack, who turned 34 earlier this offseason and is coming off a six-sack season. His six sacks tied for the second-lowest total in his career, but Mack still proved to be highly effective when on the field. Amongst qualified EDGE rushers, Mack’s 90.2 defensive grade, per PFF, ranked fourth highest, while his 88.0 run defense grade was good for second. His 49 pressures was tied for 26th most at the position. It’s a good deal for Mack given the drop in his raw numbers, and it gives the Chargers a reliable pass rusher after they released Joey Bosa last week.

ESPN’s reporting has Mack playing in 2025, and Mack is already on record as saying: “As long as Justin Herbert is your quarterback, and you got Derwin James and all these guys that love the game of football, and you got Jim Harbaugh coaching them, you know you always have a chance to win. That’s a no-brainer in the sense of, yeah, if you know football, then you know.” If winning remains the main priority for Mack, it’s hard to imagine a better situation than the Chargers unless he truly wants to go ring-hunting on a bargain contract.

After the Chargers’ devastating loss to the Texans in the Wild Card round, Mack said he wasn’t sure if he would return for his 12th NFL season. Mack, entering his age-34 season, will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said last week that the team would be interested in bringing back Mack for 2025 after he recorded six sacks and 35 quarterback hurries over 16 games in 2024. LA had the league’s sixth lowest QB pressure rate (19 percent) in 2024.

Harbaugh specifically said that he wants to bring everyone back, and “nobody more than” Mack. Soon to be 34 years old, the impending free agent had a quiet 2024 season. He totaled just six sacks a year after tallying a career-high 17 sacks. Still, Mack was an integral part of an LA defense that immediately turned things around in Harbaugh’s first season as the head coach. We fully expect GM Jim Hortiz to do everything in his power to keep the big names in town.