Chargers news: Keenan Allen injury, Khalil Mack award, Josh Palmer injury update

Chargers news: Khalil Mack wins AFC Defensive Player of the Month

It was announced on Thursday morning that edge rusher Khalil Mack won the AFC Defensive Player of the Month award. Mack turned in a dominant month for the Bolts, finishing with six sacks, two of which were strip sacks. Three of his four games played in the month of November were multi-sack games.

This is more impressive considering that his best game of the season did not even come in November. That happened in October when Mack finished with six sacks against his former team, the Las Vegas Raiders.

Mack has seen a resurgence this season after what was a down year production-wise in 2022. The long-time NFL vet is not letting age get in the way as he ranks third in the league in total sacks, trailing both T.J. Watt and Danielle Hunter by only half a sack.

Mack's play this season has given the Chargers a very interesting conundrum heading into the 2024 offseason. After restructuring his deal in the spring, Mack's cap hit for the 2024 season ballooned to $38.5 million, per Over The Cap.

The Chargers are currently well above the projected salary cap and need to clear room. The team would save $23.25 million against the cap by releasing Mack in the last year of his contract. Considering his age, it seemed like a no-brainer before the year.

Now not so much. Mack has been the best player on defense for the Chargers, which may prompt the team to explore other avenues. Do they extend him to lower the cap hit in 2024? Do they try to trade Joey Bosa instead? Or do they just have to bite the bullet and accept the fact that Mack's time in LA is up?

It is definitely a tough situation that Mack forced that Chargers into simply by being elite this season.