Khalil Mack didn’t sound like a player just passing through on a one-year deal. He sounded like somebody who already knew exactly where he wanted to be.
The Chargers EDGE, now entering the 13th season of his career, returned to Los Angeles this offseason and made it clear the decision was about more than football. Mack said he felt good about the group the Chargers are building toward 2026, but the bigger point was personal: this was the place he and his family wanted.
“Ultimately, this is where me and my family want to be this year,” Mack said, via Eric Smith of the team’s site. “Playing high-level football and knowing this group of guys - I said that last year and the year before - but knowing this group of guys we have in this locker room, I couldn’t really see being anywhere else.”
That same Chargers locker room is also dealing with the future of Tuli Tuipulotu, who is in the final year of his rookie contract. Tuipulotu said he’s leaving the business side to his agent and keeping his focus on camp.
“I just let my agent, let the guys handle that,” Tuipulotu said. “I’m just trying to be here with the team and be close with the guys.”
Mack also had praise for first-round EDGE Akheem Mesidor, pointing to the kind of traits that don’t always show up first on a stat sheet.
“There’s a lot of intangibles there, man. I’m excited to see him with the pads on,” Mack said.
In Kansas City, rookie DE R Mason Thomas said the Chiefs kept their draft interest under wraps better than he expected. Thomas said he didn’t hear much from the team before draft day and had no idea the call was coming from a Kansas City, Missouri, area code.
“I would’ve never known a Kansas City, Missouri, area code would call my phone on draft day. They didn’t really talk as much,” Thomas said, via Pro Football Talk.
“I had a formal meeting with them, and that was the first meeting of the Combine. After that we didn’t talk.
So I guess they’re low-key. They like to keep it quiet.”
The Raiders’ first-round QB Fernando Mendoza, meanwhile, is still taking in the reality of having Tom Brady in the building as a mentor. Mendoza said the relationship feels unreal, especially because Brady was someone he looked up to long before he ever got to meet him.
“It’s surreal,” Mendoza said, via the team’s website. “It’s surreal.
However, you know, he’s been such a great resource and he’s been, from a young age, he’s been a big idol of mine and then now it’s, OK, Tom is a human being. Yes, he’s an exceptional human being, but he’s a human being.”
Mendoza said the key is to absorb what Brady can teach without losing sight of the fact that the relationship works best when it’s treated naturally.
“So, take what you can, learn from him, and make sure that you value that relationship, rather than looking at him with googly eyes every second. He wants to be treated as a human being and he is, like I said, an exceptional human being, and he’s someone that has a lot of characteristics and values that I look up to as a football player and [as] a character outside of football. But having that relationship is surreal and if you would have told me 10 years ago, I never would have believed you.”
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