San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch didn’t exactly slam the door on the trade chatter swirling around the team, and he also made it clear the phone lines are busy as the deadline gets closer.
In a Friday morning interview on KNBR, Lynch was asked whether trade discussions around the league are picking up and whether there are more calls coming in these days.
“Just because the flow of the way the trade deadline is approaching, yes. That’s our job to do that.
To talk with our counterparts around the league. We receive calls.
We make calls. Just to kind of see where the market is at.
I think the answer to that is yes. We’re just doing our jobs.”
Lynch was then pressed on whether he could say if he had been talking with the Los Angeles Chargers about Khalil Mack. He laughed off the question and said:
“No, I can’t tell you that. I had a lot of people ask me that yesterday.
We seem to be connected to everyone. I don’t know where that comes from.
I had a player ask me that yesterday. It’s usually [George] Kittle.
He asks about everything, which I love.”
Mack has been an obvious name to surface for San Francisco. He said himself that the 49ers were this close to landing him in a trade back in 2018 before the Chicago Bears stepped in at the last minute.
This time, the cost would look very different. Mack wouldn’t require two first-round picks now.
Depending on how much salary the Chargers retain, he could be had for as little as a conditional Day 3 pick. With Los Angeles sitting at 0-5, there’s not much reason for the Chargers to hang onto the 35-year-old pending free agent.
His $10 million signing bonus has already been paid, and the 49ers would be on the hook for a little more than $6 million in 2026 salary.
But there’s another angle here, too: the younger option on the Chargers’ roster. Tuli Tuipulotu is in the final year of his rookie deal after going in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
On 10 fewer pass-rush snaps, he has five more pressures than Mack, along with a pass-rush win rate that is five percentage points higher. He’s also added seven more run stops and forced two fumbles.
At 266 pounds, Tuipulotu has the size to handle the run without issue.
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