Khalil Mack
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The Chargers got some good news about Khalil Mack's injury.
Everything seems to be going the Los Angeles Chargers‘ way over the first two weeks of the NFL season.
The Chargers are 2-0, with two divisional wins, and reportedly got good news about game-wrecking EDGE Khalil Mack’s elbow injury, which took him out after just 11 snaps Monday night.
Mack was injured early in the Chargers’ 20-9 win over the Las Vegas Raiders that kept LA undefeated — despite the fact it has not played a game at SoFi Stadium yet this year.
Keyed by their dominant defense, the Chargers hold a two-game lead over the three-time-reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs — who have won the AFC West nine straight years and represented the conference in the Super Bowl in five of the past six years.
The Chargers will try to stay unbeaten when they play the Denver Broncos in their home opener Sunday in Inglewood.
When Will Khalil Mack Be Back?
Mack, a three-time All-Pro who won the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year as a member of the Raiders, was already tormenting his former team in the first quarter when he lunged to make a first-quarter tackle and landed awkwardly on his elbow.
Mack ran to the sidelines holding his wrist, and Chargers nation was holding its collective breath hoping the injury wasn’t serious — a particularly angsty period, since he did not return.
Yet, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the injury is not season-ending, and Mack should only miss “a few weeks.”
“Not season-ending,” Rapoport shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. “Good news for [the Chargers], as Mack has looked like his usual productive self for this stellar defense.”
The Chargers could ill afford to lose Mack for the year, since he has been his typical game-wrecking self throughout his four-season tenure in LA. Mack has 32 sacks and 40 tackles for loss in 52 games for the Chargers, including one sack this season.
He has been named to the Pro Bowl roster in each of his first three years as a member of the Chargers. LA re-signed him to a one-year, $18 million contract this off-season.
Who Will Fill In For Khalil Mack For The Chargers?
The NFL is the ultimate next-man-up league, which means the Chargers will have to turn to backup outside linebacker Caleb Murphy in Mack’s absence.
The undrafted third-year linebacker, who played in college at Division II schools Grand Valley State and Ferris State, held his own after subbing in for Mack on Monday night.
Murphy had two tackles, and one solo tackle, while playing 34 defensive snaps against the Raiders — more snaps than he played all last season as a member of the Chargers and Tennessee Titans.
Yet, even though he has far from the pedigree — or bank account — of Mack, Murphy has been an effective member of the Chargers defense this year. He has six tackles, including four against the Chiefs in LA’s season-opening 27-21 win in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Murphy has earned a 56.6 grade this season from Pro-Football Focus and has been better defending the run (59.1 grade) than rushing the passer (55.2).
The Chargers rank seventh in the NFL in yards-against per game (282.5) and eighth in rushing-yards against per game in 2025 (83.0). They also rank third in the NFL in points-against per game (15.0).