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Los Angeles Chargers News & Rumors

OLB Khalil Mack Mulling Retirement

January 13th, 2025 at 3:53pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

Outside linebacker Khalil Mack is set to hit free agency for the first time in his 11-year career, but he’ll be weighing retirement along with any contract offers he receivers.

The 33-year-old said that he was uncertain about his future plans after the Chargers’ 32-12 loss to the Texans in the wild card round on Saturday.

“Man, it’s a lot of different thoughts in my head right now,” said Mack (via ESPN’s Kris Rhim). “I can’t really speak on a definitive decision in terms of what I’m going to do because I don’t know if I’m going to play football moving forward.”

Mack added that he wanted to spend time with his family and “try not to make a rash decision after a loss.” The former Raider and Bear is all too familiar with first-round playoff exits: Saturday’s loss dropped him to 0-5 in his postseason career.

That lack of team success will factor into Mack’s decision. He was hoping the Chargers’ offseason overhaul would put him in a position to contend for a Super Bowl for the first time in his career. Instead, Los Angeles flamed out in the first round, leaving Mack to decide between running it back or chasing a ring elsewhere.

Like many veteran players at his age, Mack will likely have to choose between the best financial offer and the opportunity to play on a championship contender. He played through a groin injury to record six sacks and a Pro Bowl appearance despite the lowest snap share of his career, so he could still command a sizable salary in the edge defender market.

However, Mack’s career earnings are just under $170MM, the second-most of any edge defender in NFL history behind Von Miller, giving him the financial flexibility to accept a lower offer from a contending team.

That could still be the Chargers, who are currently projected to have more than $70MM in cap space next season (fourth-most in the NFL), per OverTheCap, though that number will drop once Mack’s release is processed. (His contract includes a void year in 2025, so he will count for a $8.9MM dead cap hit on the Chargers’ books.) Head coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz will likely prioritize pass-catchers for Justin Herbert this offseason, but it will be tough to ignore a return from Mack on a discounted deal.

Mack has plenty of time to decide on his football future. If he retires, he’ll finish his playing career with 107.5 sacks (32nd-most all-time) and 34 forced fumbles (tied for 24th-most all-time). He also earned nine Pro Bowl appearances and three first-team All-Pro selections, along with the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year award and a spot on the 2010s’ All-Decade team.

2025 NFL Cap Carryover, By Team

January 11th, 2025 at 9:52pm CST by Adam La Rose

With the regular season in the books, all NFL teams have declared their cap carryover for the 2025 league year. Unused cap space from the current campaign will roll over, a substantial element of many teams’ financial planning.

Last offseason saw a record-breaking jump in the salary cap ceiling (pushing the upper limit to $255.4MM). To no surprise, another spike is expected but a smaller year-to-year increase is likely to take place. It was learned last month that teams are preparing for the 2025 cap to check in at a figure between $265MM-$275MM.

As teams evaluate key roster-building decisions – including restructures and cuts aimed at manufacturing cap space – carryovers are crucial. It it still not known what exactly the cap ceiling will wind up as, but in the meantime every club’s space which has been rolled over will add a degree of clarity with respect to how their offseason will take shape. Several teams (including the top two on this year’s list) have made a concerted effort in recent years to carry unused space through the course of a campaign knowing a spike in cap charges for core players are forthcoming.

Courtesy of Over the Cap, here is the full breakdown of each team’s 2025 cap carryover amount:

  • San Francisco 49ers: $50.01MM
  • Cleveland Browns: $41.95MM
  • New England Patriots: $34.86MM
  • Las Vegas Raiders: $33.57MM
  • Detroit Lions: $23.73MM
  • Washington Commanders: $19.83MM
  • Dallas Cowboys: $18.84MM
  • Jacksonville Jaguars: $15.89MM
  • Green Bay Packers: $15.11MM
  • Tennessee Titans: $14.72MM
  • Arizona Cardinals: $11.38MM
  • Indianapolis Colts: $10.1MM
  • Seattle Seahawks: $8.42MM
  • Pittsburgh Steelers: $6.83MM
  • Philadelphia Eagles: $6.81MM
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $6.63MM
  • Atlanta Falcons: $6.07MM
  • Minnesota Vikings: $5.94MM
  • Cincinnati Bengals: $5.94MM
  • Chicago Bears: $5.08MM
  • Los Angeles Chargers: $4.89MM
  • Houston Texans: $4.81MM
  • Kansas City Chiefs: $3.15MM
  • Miami Dolphins: $3MM
  • New Orleans Saints: $2.93MM
  • Los Angeles Rams: $2.75MM
  • Baltimore Ravens: $2.14MM
  • Denver Broncos: $1.91MM
  • Buffalo Bills: $1.34MM
  • New York Giants: $1.17MM
  • Carolina Panthers: $490K
  • New York Jets: $346K

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/10/25

January 10th, 2025 at 10:11pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor moves and a few standard gameday practice squad elevations for the first games of the playoffs:

Chicago Bears

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Philadelphia Eagles

McFadden’s waiver claim has been accepted, but since the Bears have no more games this year, it has been deferred until the first business day after the Super Bowl, February 10.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/8/25

January 8th, 2025 at 10:04pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor transactions:

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Designated to return from IR: CB Eli Apple

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed off Bills’ practice squad: S Lewis Cine

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Designated to return from IR: CB Troy Hill

Washington Commanders

  • Designated to return from IR: TE Colson Yankoff
  • Placed on IR: DT Haggai Ndubuisi

A former first-round pick, Cine will get a third chance in Philadelphia. The Georgia-product has failed to gain much traction at his first two stops with the Vikings and Bills, but he’ll open the postseason on the active roster with the Eagles.

Once a ball-hawking cornerback for the Rams, Hill’s role has reduced quite a bit in his age-33 season. With the playoffs coming up, though, Hill has the potential to provide some experienced depth in the Buccaneers secondary.

2025 NFL General Manager Search Tracker

January 8th, 2025 at 6:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Titans and Raiders again became part of a GM carousel in the 2020s. Tennessee canned its front office boss after two seasons, while Las Vegas moved on after one. These two joined the Jets, and after two-plus offseason weeks, the Jaguars followed suit by firing Trent Baalke. With the Titans, Raiders and Jets landing on GMs, the Jags are the only team left searching. Here is how the GM market looks:

Updated 1-27-25 (9:51pm CT)

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Jets

Tennessee Titans

Coaching Rumors: Seahawks, Vrabel, Getsy, Saints, Slowik, Harbaugh

January 8th, 2025 at 2:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Seahawks are not set to clean house on offense, but they are not considering anyone from Ryan Grubb‘s staff to be their next OC after making Grubb an one-and-done. Mike Macdonald confirmed as much (via the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta), while praising the team’s young core in hyping up the job. Although the Seahawks are only preparing to look outside the organization for help, Macdonald added (via ESPN.com’s Brady Henderson) play-calling experience will not be required. This is not too uncommon, as teams regularly hire quarterbacks coaches or pass-game coordinators to be OCs. Those roles generally do not feature play-calling duties. The team has already put in interview requests, per Macdonald, though no names have surfaced yet. Additionally, Macdonald said (via Condotta) the new hire, as could be expected, will not be forced to retain all of Grubb’s staff. More changes should be expected.

Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:

  • Mike Vrabel looks to have a much better chance of landing a job this year compared to 2024, though he did interview with a few teams following his surprising Titans ouster. One of those meetings came with the Panthers, who were coming off a 2-15 season. As Vrabel did not view himself as a strong candidate to land the Falcons’ job, The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt notes that the then-recently fired coach was not interested in the Carolina position (subscription required). David Tepper‘s presence had hurt the perception of the Panthers’ job at that point, as the owner had been accused of meddling in personnel matters — during a second straight season in which he fired a head coach — before throwing a drink on a fan during a late-season game in 2023. Dave Canales took over and is set to begin a second offseason in charge, while Vrabel is viewed as the Patriots’ lead candidate.
  • The Saints do not have as many HC candidates compared to the Bears and Jets, but they do not appear interested in expanding right now. Aaron Glenn, Kellen Moore, Joe Brady, Anthony Weaver, Darren Rizzi, Mike Kafka and Vrabel comprise New Orleans’ current list, and ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler views this as the full group for the foreseeable future.
  • Bobby Slowik appeared on interview lists last year, but the Texans OC’s second season has not gone as well. Only one team, the Jets, has contacted Slowik about an HC interview this year. As the Texans prepare for their playoff matchup with the Chargers, SI.com’s Albert Breer does not tab Slowik as automatic to return for a third season. The former 49ers assistant, after a C.J. Stroud sophomore slump, will likely need to present a plan to DeMeco Ryans to keep the gig — even after the team extended its play-caller last January. That deal came with a significant raise, but Houston’s offense dropped from 12th to 22nd in yardage and 13th to 19th in points.
  • Weeks after Robert Saleh resurfaced with longtime friend Matt LaFleur‘s Packers, the NFC North team rehired one of its former assistants for a similar role. After being canned as Raiders OC, Luke Getsy is helping out the Packers as an advisor, per the Chicago Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley. Getsy had been working remotely for a few weeks. While Saleh has helped Green Bay’s offense with preparation, Getsy — a former Packers QBs coach before his two OC stints elsewhere — had been helping the defense.
  • Jim Harbaugh signed a five-year deal worth $16MM per season last January, and his latest quick-turnaround effort brought additional compensation. The first-year Chargers HC collected a $1MM bonus for guiding the team to the playoffs, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 1/7/25

January 7th, 2025 at 8:23pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Washington Commanders

  • Signed: DT Haggai Ndubuisi
  • Released: OT Max Pircher

To make room for veteran RB Ezekiel Elliott, the Chargers moved on from a veteran wideout. Laviska Shenault spent the majority of this season with the Seahawks, where he hauled in five catches in 11 games. The former second-round pick caught on with the Chargers practice squad in December and ended up getting into one game with the squad.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/7/25

January 7th, 2025 at 8:06pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

A handful of playoff teams designated players for return from IR today, opening the 21-day window for activation. While there’s a chance these players are activated at some point during the postseason, they could also merely be providing the team with another body during practices.

Ezekiel Elliott To Sign With Chargers Practice Squad

January 6th, 2025 at 8:55pm CST by Ben Levine

After requesting his release from the Cowboys in pursuit of a playoff run, Ezekiel Elliott has landed with a postseason squad. The veteran running back is signing with the Chargers practice squad, per Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz.

[RELATED: Cowboys Release Ezekiel Elliott]

Elliott attracted interest from a handful of playoff-bound teams, according to Schultz. The running back ultimately chose the Chargers because he liked the fit alongside coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Justin Herbert. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport adds that there’s hope that Elliott can get “up to speed quickly” and contribute to his squad in the playoffs.

Following a one-season stop in New England, Elliott returned to the Cowboys this past offseason. With Tony Pollard no longer in the picture, there was hope that the long-time Dallas star could once again lead the backfield. The veteran saw a somewhat significant role to begin the season, including the season opener when he ran for 40 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

As the season went on, Elliott found himself definitively behind Rico Dowdle on the depth chart. The veteran generally struggled when he was on the field, as his 3.1 yards-per-carry represented a new career-low. Elliott also faced discipline in November for his “habitual tardiness,” leading to his Week 9 absence. With the Cowboys firmly out of the playoff picture entering the final week of the season, Elliott requested and was granted his release as he pursued an opportunity with a playoff team.

He’ll find that opportunity in Los Angeles, where the Chargers have navigated a new RB corps in 2024. J.K. Dobbins recently returned to his RB1 role after missing four weeks with a sprained knee, but fellow RB Gus Edwards is currently nursing his own ankle issue. Hassan Haskins and rookie Kimani Vidal have filled in admirably at times for the Chargers throughout the 2024 campaign, but considering Dobbins’ injury history, some extra depth certainly won’t hurt.

Of course, expectations have to be managed for the team’s newest addition. Even as Elliott found the end zone 12 times during the 2022 campaign, the RB was already showing signs of decline, leading to the Cowboys bailing from his six-year, $90MM extension. He didn’t look a whole lot better during his lone season with the Patriots, and he hit a new low this season with only 295 yards from scrimmage. The Chargers are set to take on the Texans this Saturday, so it may be unrealistic for Elliott to earn the team’s trust in less than a week. If the Chargers win their Wild Card matchup and Edwards is still sidelined, then Elliott could potentially play a goal-line role for the team in later rounds.

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