Sitting at a brutal 0-5, the Los Angeles Chargers have zero reason to act like playoff contenders. Every card on the board says they should be selling at the deadline, and Khalil Mack is easily their best trade bait.
Initial reports made it sound like Khalil Mack had a full no-trade clause locked into his deal. But The Athletic’s Noah Furtado confirmed Mack’s contract with the Chargers doesn’t have any no-trade clause, unlike Justin Herbert.
That distinction completely changes the equation for general manager Joe Hortiz, and the Chargers hold 100% leverage.
Khalil Mack Does Not Have No-Trade Clause in Contract With Chargers
“Mack does not have a no-trade clause in his one-year, $18 million deal, The Athletic learned, despite multiple reports in recent weeks stating he does,” Furtado writes.
“So if the Chargers become sellers by the Nov. 10 trade deadline, he would not be able to prevent a move if the team decides to make one.”
Mack might be 35, but he’s a future Hall of Famer, so there’s no denying his skills. Nobody in LA wants to push a respected veteran out the door, especially given what he means for that defense.
But sitting at 0-5, reality has set in. Without a no-trade clause standing in the way, the front office has complete flexibility. If a playoff team calls looking to bolster their pass rush, the Chargers can evaluate the draft return and handle the move purely as a business decision.
Hortiz will have no reason to ignore those calls, and they can get as good as a Day 2 or Day 3 pick if they really test just how desperate the pass-rush-needy teams are.
The trade rumors aren’t cutting Mack any slack either, linking him to the heavyweights like the Chiefs and the 49ers this season.
“Khalil Mack is there as an option,” ESPN analyst Jordan Schultz said on The Ross Tucker Podcast, when laying out the best available pass-rush options on the block.
“Everybody wants a rusher, and he’s still disruptive. Maybe he’s not what he was seven years ago, but he’s still a really good player. That’s a name I would watch, and that’s a team I would watch because there’s a lot of moving parts right now with that organization.”
Mack Doesn’t Care About Outside Trade Chatter
Now that it’s entirely the front office’s headache, Mack said that he is solely focused on the team he is with right now. Tuning out trade noise is something he’s actively doing, and thinking about getting the Chargers their first win this season helps him remain grounded in his current reality.
“I have total belief and total faith in this team and this organization,” Mack said, per Furtado. “I’m not really thinking about anything outside of being here on Thursday.”
Winning with the Chargers was one of the main reasons he re-signed as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason. It was his “affirmation of his vow against the so-called ring chase,” as Furtado puts it.
“He didn’t just want to win with any team. And what better way to do it with the Chargers than at home, with SoFi Stadium set to host the Super Bowl?” Yeah, the scenario Mack imagined is playing out as the worst-case scenario, 5 weeks into the season.
They face the 4-0 Chiefs next, and with no wins, there are hardly any hopes remaining that the Chargers’ first win will come against Kansas City. Still, that isn’t stopping Mack from chasing the ring.
“I’m still ring chasing here, bro.”
Khalil Mack Trade Rumors Explode Following Key Chargers Contract Revelation