When the Chargers drafted Tuli Tuipulotu in the second round from USC in 2023, there were reasons to believe it might take some time for him to make an impact on their defense. After all, he was only 20 years old when he became the 54th overall selection in the draft.
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Besides, what was the rush?
The Chargers already had Khalil Mack at one outside linebacker spot and Joey Bosa at the other. Mack and Bosa had been picked to participate in the Pro Bowl multiple times in their respective NFL careers. They were two pillars of the Chargers’ defense under then-coach Brandon Staley.
Conventional wisdom suggested Tuipulotu’s day would come, and so it has.
Tuipulotu had a career-high 13 sacks in 16 games during the 2025 season, his third in the NFL, earning his first Pro Bowl selection. Mack had 5.5 sacks in 12 games, sitting out four because of an elbow injury. Bosa had five sacks in 15 games with his new team, the Buffalo Bills.
Tuipulotu’s previous best was 8.5 sacks in 17 games in the 2024 season.
Now, with training camp set to start Wednesday, the question isn’t whether the torch has been passed from Mack to Tuipulotu because it appears the transfer has been completed with one menacing rush after another. No, the pressing question is when will Tuipulotu get paid commiserate to his new, enhanced status?
The price tag on an extension to Tuipulotu’s rookie contract, which runs through the upcoming season, would only increase if he has another standout season with another career high in sacks in the 2026 season. The bottom line is the Chargers can pay him now or pay him later.
Either way, it’s going to be costly.
As he has for so many things on and off the field, Tuipulotu, now 23, said he has leaned on Mack, 35, for advice. How to deal with ongoing contract extension talks is just another item on the list, something he declined to discuss in detail during an interview last month with beat reporters.
“I already talked to him about everything,” Tuipulotu said of Mack, who signed his own one-season, $18-million, fully guaranteed extension in March in order to play his fifth season with the Chargers and his 13th overall in the NFL. “He gave me great advice, and, yeah, it was between us.”
Mack isn’t going to play forever, and he has acknowledged mulling retirement after each of the past two seasons. It makes Tuipulotu’s long-term presence with the Chargers all the more important, and also why General Manager Joe Hortiz felt compelled to draft another edge rusher.
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Hortiz selected Akheem Mesidor from the University of Miami in the first round (22nd overall), seeking depth at outside linebacker after Odafe Oweh departed via free agency for the Washington Commanders after he had 7.5 sacks in 12 games following a trade from the Baltimore Ravens last Oct. 7.
Mesidor, 25, had 12.5 sacks last season with the Hurricanes, third-most among players in FBS, the top collegiate division. Overall, he had 35.5 sacks in an extended college career that began at West Virginia in 2020 and continued at Miami starting with the 2022 season.
Said Hortiz when asked why he picked Mesidor: “Best. Player. Available.”
Fair enough, but there was a pressing need at the position, too.
As when then-GM Tom Telesco picked Tuipulotu in 2023, Hortiz selected Mesidor in order to add depth to a position of strength for the Chargers. In time, Mesidor could inherit a role every bit as important to their defense as the one Tuipulotu has won for himself in his first three NFL seasons.
In fact, it’s possible Mack, Tuipulotu and Mesidor could form a three-headed monster much as Mack, Bosa and Tuipulotu did at times on the field together for two seasons before Bosa signed with the Bills as a free agent following the 2024 season, creating an opening for Tuipulotu’s advancement.
The outside linebacker position is one of several defensive positions that bear monitoring during training camp, and with preseason games set for Aug. 13 against the Texans in Houston, and Aug. 20 against the San Francisco 49ers and Aug. 27 against the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
“Akheem, he’s a great rookie, man,” Tuipulotu said last month. “It’s cool because we can figure out what I’m good at, rushing from the inside, and what he’s good at, rushing from the inside. We can really mix and match. It really doesn’t matter. I can go outside. It really doesn’t matter to me.”
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It might, however, for opposing quarterbacks who find themselves under siege.