Khalil Mack suffered a scary arm injury in Monday's win over the Las Vegas Raiders that, thankfully, was not as serious as it could have been. LA Chargers fans learned Wednesday that Mack dislocated his elbow and will miss a few weeks; much better than the rest of the season if he broke his arm.
Even though the Chargers skirted true disaster, the team still needs more edge rusher depth. The pass rush was paltry without Mack on Monday and after not replacing Joey Bosa with any established talent in the offseason, the room is looking pretty thin.
Jim Harbaugh didn't rule out the possibility of signing an edge rusher on Wednesday and instantly proved he wasn't kidding. The Chargers worked out a pair of edge rushers on Wednesday but there was just one problem: neither player elicits much excitement.
The Chargers worked out 2019 Las Vegas Raiders first-round pick Clelin Ferrell and 2019 Tennessee Titans fourth-round pick Rashad Weaver.
Chargers work out two uninspiring edge rushers after Khalil Mack injury
To be fair, the Chargers aren't going to go out and land a marquee name. Even if the Chargers want marginally better options, they would likely have to trade draft capital and overspend.
That being said, it is a bit ironic that Ferrell is one of the players the Chargers are working out to potentially fill in for Mack. Ferrell has already failed to replace Mack once in his career, and as the old saying goes, history tends to repeat itself.
The Raiders drafted Ferrell with the fourth-overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft one year after trading Mack to the Chicago Bears. The Raiders didn't have a single player in 2018 record more than four sacks, making it beyond obvious that the team needed pass-rushing depth.
The Raiders thought they were getting that with Ferrell, even reaching a tad for the first-round prospect because of his upside. It didn't work. In his four years with the team, Ferrell recorded a whopping 10 combined sacks.
To make matters worse, the next two edge rushers taken, Josh Hines-Allen and Rashan Gary, have both made at least one Pro Bowl.
Weaver doesn't have the full circle Mack connection but he is equally as uninspiring. He did record over 30 pressures back in 2022 but it took over 400 pass-rushing snaps. Weaver has struggled to stay healthy since then, playing a grand total of 14 defensive snaps last year.
This is what you get when you shop for an edge rusher mid-season because of a marquee injury. Any option at this point is going to be unexciting.