The Los Angeles Chargers had a rough 2023 campaign, and now, they face plenty of questions heading into the offseason thanks to a miserable salary cap situation.
The Chargers are projected to have negative cap space heading into 2024 (like, very negative), so wheeling and dealing will be quite an arduous task for them in the coming months.
They may end up having to part ways with some key players, such as star edge rusher Khalil Mack.
Bleacher Report’s NFL Scouting Department lists Mack as one of the top potential cap casualties of Los Angeles this coming offseason, citing the fact that cutting him before June 1 would open up $23.3 million. It wouldn’t completely solve LA’s cap problems, but it would certainly be a good start.
Mack is entering the final year of his deal.
The 32-year-old is coming off of a brilliant season in which he racked up a career-high 17 sacks to go along with 74 tackles, five forced fumbles and 10 passes defended en route to his eighth Pro Bowl selection.
It represented the first time Mack logged double-digit sacks since 2018, when he registered 12.5 sacks with the Chicago Bears.
Mack, who played his collegiate football at Buffalo, was originally selected by the Oakland Raiders with the fifth overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft.
He spent the first four years of his career with the Raiders, making four Pro Bowl appearances while earning a pair of First-Team All-Pro selections. Most notably, he won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2016.
Mack was traded to the Bears just before the start of the 2018 campaign, where he proceeded to spend the next three seasons. He made the Pro Bowl all three years in Chicago and added another First-Team All-Pro selections before being dealt to the Chargers.
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