The San Francisco 49ers are in the trade speculation conversation leading up to the deadline on Nov. 10. One of the names in the speculation mill involving the Niners is Los Angeles Chargers‘ Khalil Mack.
With the Chargers at 0-5 and potentially looking at 0-6 as they face the Kansas City Chiefs, who are coming off their bye week, many are seeing Los Angeles as sellers.
As a result, this is where Mack enters the speculation conversation. If the 49ers were to pull off a trade for the veteran edge rusher to bolster their defense, how would he fit? NBC Sports Bay Area’s Jennifer Lee Chan spoke about how Mack would fit the 49ers’ defense if the Niners were to make a move for him.
“Khalil Mack is on a one-year, $18 million deal, fully guaranteed,” Lee Chan said in an Oct. 16 video on her YouTube channel. “So it’s only a one-year deal. Slice that up to 17 games. He’s already played five. Maybe in a couple of weeks, the 49ers take up the second half of his salary and have him on their roster for the second half of the season.
“There are some defensive linemen that could come back, but really, putting Khalil Mack on the opposite side of Nick Bosa would be a boom for this 49ers defense.”
Mack has played 231 total snaps for the Chargers, and despite being in his mid-30s, the veteran is still producing. The Chargers’ pass rusher has a 75.8 overall PFF defensive grade, along with 14 total pressures, three sacks, eight hurries, three QB hits, eight stops, and seven solo tackles.
Khalil Mack Would Elevate 49ers’ Defense
Moreover, Lee Chan notes that Mack would give the 49ers a pure edge rusher that they don’t have many of, at least not one that’s at the veteran’s level to complement Nick Bosa.
“They’ve got Gracen Halton, they’ve got Romello Height, they’ve got Keion White, who’s been playing really good football,” Lee Chan added. You have Osa Odighizuwa. There are some guys on this defensive line now. So what would Khalil Mack bring? Well, he brings an edge. Even Mykel Williams, who is an edge setter, is more of an edge setter than a pass rusher.
“So Khalil Mack is a pure pass-rush specialist. He could line up on those money downs, be opposite Nick Bosa. They can’t double-team them both, and someone would get after the quarterbacks.”
Insider Says Could Be on the Move Ahead of Trade Deadline
With the trade deadline less than a month away, NFL insider Jordan Schultz shared that Mack is a player to watch as teams needing pass rush help will be calling the Chargers for him.
“Khalil Mack is there as an option,” Schultz said in an Oct. 15 video from “The Ross Tucker Podcast.” “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.”
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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