Defensive Notes

March 11, 2022

Khalil Mack

Chargers seek to upgrade lousy pass rush

After a flurry of activity involving quarterbacks, there was a big move on the defensive side of the ball yesterday. The Los Angeles Chargers acquired pass rusher Khalil Mack from the Bears, a move that makes sense for both sides. The rebuilding Bears need draft picks, the contending Chargers need another veteran pass rusher.

Mack is 31 years old and coming off a season where he played in only 7 games while battling injuries, but the three-time All-Pro (and former Defensive Player of the Year) still has elite ability. He had 6 sacks in those seven games last year, and at least 8.5 in each of his previous six seasons. Since 2015, only three defenders have more sacks -- Aaron Donald, Chandler Jones and Cameron Jordan. In addition, Mack has 29 more solo tackles over that timeframe than any of the league's other top pass rushers.

In the table, compiled using data from pro-football-reference, all players with at least 40 sacks over the past seven years are shown, sorted by solo tackles. New teammate Joey Bosa also shows up in the top half of the list.

40-SACK PLAYERS, 2015-PRESENT
Player	G	Sk	Solo	Ast	Comb	TFL	QBHits
Khalil Mack	101	72.5	293	98	391	87	124
Cameron Jordan	112	78.0	264	113	377	106	156
Calais Campbell	107	50.0	264	122	386	82	140
Cameron Heyward	102	53.0	249	148	397	78	117
Aaron Donald	111	89.0	247	146	393	132	213
DeForest Buckner	95	45.0	243	146	389	58	118
Von Miller	94	66.5	238	76	314	82	142
Chandler Jones	99	84.0	237	69	306	91	149
Shaquil Barrett	107	51.5	236	81	317	64	110
Jason Pierre-Paul	90	49.5	230	88	318	57	91
Melvin Ingram	99	45.0	225	82	307	64	108
T.J. Watt	77	72.0	216	78	294	80	150
Carlos Dunlap	110	60.5	216	111	327	72	155
Danielle Hunter	85	60.5	216	98	314	73	90
Brandon Graham	97	42.0	216	78	294	78	91
Joey Bosa	79	58.0	213	78	291	73	129
Matt Judon	93	47.0	205	91	296	68	128
Jadeveon Clowney	93	41.0	205	80	285	83	105
Fletcher Cox	109	45.5	204	98	302	58	116
DeMarcus Lawrence	96	48.5	200	112	312	72	100
Preston Smith	112	49.5	197	107	304	56	110
Justin Houston	90	53.5	190	60	250	66	98
Markus Golden	94	44.5	184	91	275	55	110
Bud Dupree	92	42.5	182	66	248	56	73
Everson Griffen	95	56.0	177	82	259	62	138
J.J. Watt	71	45.0	177	75	252	74	133
Olivier Vernon	79	42.0	177	77	254	62	119
Frank Clark	105	53.5	155	69	224	59	118
Whitney Mercilus	91	40.0	153	87	240	52	81
Ryan Kerrigan	108	57.5	151	58	209	68	95
Za'Darius Smith	91	44.5	148	79	227	53	112
Mario Addison	107	57.0	145	77	222	58	88
Robert Quinn	93	56.0	145	59	204	55	90
Yannick Ngakoue	95	55.5	145	28	173	57	119
Myles Garrett	68	58.5	140	63	203	59	116
Chris Jones	90	49.5	138	61	199	48	117
Geno Atkins	88	43.5	124	89	213	57	97

Chargers coach Brandon Staley was a defensive assistant with the Bears in 2018, Mack's first season with the team. He had 12.5 sacks in 14 games. That kind of potential would be welcome with the Chargers, who have long needed someone to pair with Bosa in that regard. Over the last three seasons, the Chargers have totaled just 92 sacks; only four teams have fewer over that time span. Los Angeles hasn't ranked higher than 20th in any of those years.

TEAM SACKS, 2019-PRESENT
Team	19	20	21	Total
Pittsburgh	54	56	55	165
LA Rams	50	53	50	153
Tampa Bay	47	48	47	142
New Orleans	51	45	46	142
Washington	46	47	38	131
Arizona	40	48	41	129
San Francisco	48	30	48	126
Buffalo	44	38	42	124
Minnesota	48	23	51	122
Green Bay	41	41	39	121
Philadelphia	43	49	29	121
Carolina	53	29	39	121
Cleveland	38	38	43	119
Denver	40	42	36	118
Chicago	32	35	49	116
Indianapolis	41	40	33	114
Miami	23	41	48	112
Dallas	39	31	41	111
NY Giants	36	40	34	110
Baltimore	37	39	34	110
Kansas City	45	32	31	108
Seattle	28	46	34	108
New England	47	24	36	107
Tennessee	43	19	43	105
NY Jets	35	31	33	99
Houston	31	34	32	97
Jacksonville	47	18	32	97
LA Chargers	30	27	35	92
Cincinnati	31	17	42	90
Las Vegas	32	21	35	88
Detroit	28	24	30	82
Atlanta	28	29	18	75

Will the Chargers have a top-10 or 12 fantasy defense next year? That remains to be seen. Los Angeles hasn't ranked higher than 18th (1 point for sacks, 2 for takeaways) in five years, and Mack's previous team didn't rank higher than 15th in any of the last three. But it was 1st back in 2018, with Staley (as outside linebackers coach) and Mack together. A nice bump up into respectability should be coming.

--Andy Richardson

Khalil Mack

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