Packer Central

This Free Agent’s ‘Best Fit’ Would Be with Packers; There’s One Problem

The Green Bay Packers have been deemed the “best fit” for longtime NFL star Khalil Mack. There’s one major problem, though.
Bill Huber|
Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Khalil Mack forces New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener to throw an incomplete pass.
Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Khalil Mack forces New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener to throw an incomplete pass. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – ESPN.com analyst and former NFL defensive back Matt Bowen picked the best fits for the top 50 players set to become free agents next month based on team needs, scheme and finances.

He slotted one of those players to the Green Bay Packers: Los Angeles Chargers pass rusher Khalil Mack.

Mack is ESPN’s No. 9 free agent. With last year’s trade of Preston Smith and lackluster production from Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness and Kingsley Enagbare, the Packers could use another pass rusher to turn up the heat on opposing quarterbacks.

“The Packers adding Mack to pair with Rashan Gary would boost their pass rush off the edges,” Brown said. “Mack had six sacks and 41 pressures in 2024 with the Chargers. And even though he's turning 34 this week, he's still a three-down force with the steady play speed to heat up the pocket.”

Mack also was PFF’s top target for the Packers.

“Mack’s 137 pressures over the past two years are the 12th most among edge rushers, and his 91.6 PFF run-defense grade ranks first,” PFF wrote last month. “Mack would be a home-run signing to pair with Rashan Gary.”

Mack is a big-time player. He is coming off his third consecutive Pro Bowl selection. In fact, other than in 2021, when he missed 10 games due to a foot injury, he’s 10-for-10 in Pro Bowl seasons.

After delivering a career-high 17 sacks in 2023 along with 21 tackles for losses, Mack had only six sacks and six TFLs in 2024. Moreover, his pressure count plunged from 88 to 49.

However, there were 78 edge defenders with at least 245 pass-rushing opportunities in 2024, a number that incorporates Gary, Van Ness and Enagbare. From that group, Mack ranked 16th in pass-rush win rate and 25th in pass-rush productivity, a PFF metric that measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap.

Mack was better – significantly better – than Green Bay’s three top returning ends. Gary ranked 34th in pass-rush win rate and 36th in pass-rush productivity, Van Ness was 54th in win rate and 62nd in pass-rush productivity and Enagbare was 68th in win rate and 57th in pass-rush productivity.

Put another way, not only did Mack have more pressures (49) than Gary (47), but he had more than Enagbare (25) and Van Ness (20) combined.

Plus, Mack remains a top-shelf run defender.

So, yes, Mack would help. There’s just one problem. Well, there are two problems.

First, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh doesn’t want Mack to leave.

“I don’t know if it’s possible to get everybody back,” Harbaugh said at the end of the season, “but I want to get as darn close as it’s possible to have darn near all of our players come back, and nobody more than Khalil Mack.”

Mack said he doesn’t want to leave, either, because he viewed the Chargers as his best chance to win.

“As long as Justin Herbert is your quarterback and you’ve got (safety) Derwin James and all these guys that love the game of football and you’ve got Jim Harbaugh coaching, you know you always have a chance to win,” Mack said after recording two sacks in the playoff loss to Houston. “So, yeah, that’s a no-brainer. If you know football, then you know.”

Second – and this is the bigger issue – is Mack’s age. He will turn 34 on Saturday. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst’s forays into free agency have not included end-of-their-career players.

“It all depends on who the player is and what he could give you,” Gutekunst said at the end of the season. “I don’t particularly want to see somebody on the backside of their career. I don’t think that’s something I’d be particularly interested in.

“How old was Reggie White when Ron (Wolf) signed him? He was (31) but he wasn’t on the backside of his career by any means. So, I think it just depends on the player and what you think he has in front of him.”

What does Mack have in front of him? There’s no question he could help any defense in 2025. But the declining production from 2023 to 2024 must be taken into consideration, especially with PFF projecting a two-year, $45 million contract.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.