Chargers' Khalil Mack Previews the Start of a New Chapter Ahead of 2022 Season Opener

Khalil Mack will make his Chargers debut on Sunday vs. the Raiders in Week 1.

Nicholas Cothrel | Sep 9, 2022

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COSTA MESA – The 2022 NFL season is here and edge rusher Khalil Mack is eager to show the league he's still true to form.

Mack, 31, missed 10 games last season in his final year with the Bears after undergoing season-ending foot surgery.

Now, a cornerstone piece of the Chargers defense following a trade back in March that sent the All-Pro defender to Los Angeles, Mack has been active throughout training camp, signaling he's put the foot injury behind him and ready to deliver for his new team.

Mack fielded questions at his locker Friday afternoon, setting the tone for how he feels physically as a new chapter awaits Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

"Best I've felt in a long time at the beginning of the season," he said.

Mack began last year off to a hot start, recording six sacks in the first seven games before going down with the foot injury.

He now joins Joey Bosa, forming one of – if not the top – edge rusher duo in the NFL. Mack and Bosa not only have regularly sat near the top of the league in sack totals, but they each have a tendency to go after the football and force it out of the hands of opposing passers.

Bosa logged seven strip sacks last year, marking one more than Mack's career high of six in 2018 – the same season in which Brandon Staley served as his position coach in Chicago.

“I knew he was a football guy that dove in fully, but every moment that I look over, him and Joey are talking about the run game, the pass game, the pass rush," defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill said of Mack. "He’s fully invested in it and that’s the one things that you couldn’t see from afar, but when you are up close and personal, every moment is a ball moment."

Mack was among eight Chargers players named a team captain this week voted by his teammates, indicating that just in his short time of being in the building, his leadership and knowledge has been quite impactful to the rest of the guys on the roster.

"It means a lot. Whenever you're recognized as somebody in a leadership role, it's nothing to be taken lightly," Mack said on what it meant to him personally to be named a team captain. "But also, it's a position to be respected and humbled by and just know that people are watching, your teammates are watching, just make sure everything you do is for the better of this organization."

With so much build up surrounding the organization with the noteworthy moves they made this offseason, the Chargers will open up Week 1 with a team Mack knows quite well, in the Las Vegas Raiders.

The fifth overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, Mack started his pro career with the Oakland Raiders in his first four seasons in the league. Now, entering his fifth season removed from being a part of the organization that drafted him, Mack said the build up against his former team doesn't feel quite like the first time they met back in 2019.

Mack does, however, still plan on poking fun at former teammate and Raiders quarterback Derek Carr when they lineup across from one another on Sunday.

"That's my brother," Mack said of Carr. "I like to talk trash here and there. I feel like that's a bond that can't be broken when it comes to that, but come Sunday it's on and poppin'. ... He's an ultimate competitor. One of the best in the game. Somebody that I highly respect when it comes to the leadership aspect, as well as the quarterback position."

The Chargers will have five new starters on defense when they take the field in this weekend's season opener. While each day of practice this summer has been a stepping stone into building a cohesive unit, there will be an added element of adrenaline when they lace up their cleats for the Week 1 showdown.

"Practice is so much different than a game, even though you try your best to kind of mimic and create those muscle memories as far as pass rushing or run blocking, getting off of run blocks," Mack said. "Everything heightens, the nerves go up a little bit, but it's all the same. I'm just looking forward to seeing the guys go out and have fun and play loose and ballin' just like it is practice."

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Nick Cothrel is the publisher of Charger Report. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel for more Chargers coverage.

Published Sep 9, 2022

NICHOLAS COTHREL

Nick Cothrel is the publisher for Charger Report, covering the Los Angeles Chargers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel.