Former Packers safety Matt Bowen likes the fit for Khalil Mack, who could provide a similar impact to another fairly recent free agent signing.
Once in a while, NFL teams sign players in free agency who previously had their best games or most sustained successes against their new teams. There is a school of thought that coaches and GMs see a player wreck their own team and over-value those players when reviewing the film and evaluating them.
By that logic, the Green Bay Packers should have a clear top choice in the 2025 free agency period: Khalil Mack.
Ever since Mack arrived in Chicago just before week one of the 2018 season (via a trade from the Oakland Raiders), he has been a thorn in the Packers’ sides. Mack has played against the Packers nine times in his career — once with the Raiders, seven times with the Bears, and once more with the Los Angeles Chargers, last season — and he has a total of 8.5 sacks and three forced fumbles in those games. Mack’s finest performance came in that 2018 season-opener, when he put up a sack, a forced fumble (which he recovered), and a pick-six off backup quarterback DeShone Kizer.
Now, Mack appears headed for free agency for the first time as a 34-year-old, 11-year veteran. Both times Mack has switched teams previously, he has done so via trade, so this will be his first time to truly test the open market. And according to at least one NFL analyst, Green Bay would be the best match for him for 2025 and beyond.
That analyst is ESPN’s Matt Bowen, a former NFL safety who played for the Packers in 2001 and 2002. On Tuesday, Bowen published his list of the top 50 free agents-to-be for 2025, along with each player’s best team fit, with Mack being the only player matched up with the Packers. Here’s his rationale:
The Packers adding Mack to pair with Rashan Gary would boost their pass rush off the edges. Mack had six sacks and 41 pressures in 2024 with the Chargers. And even though he’s turning 34 this week, he’s still a three-down force with the steady play speed to heat up the pocket.
Mack has plenty of experience as an edge rusher in a variety of different defensive schemes, playing as a 4-3 end in Oakland and Los Angeles as well as a 3-4 outside linebacker in Chicago and LA. With the Packers moving to a 4-3 system under Jeff Hafley in 2024, he would give the team a steady veteran presence in the starting lineup, one capable of playing all three downs and something around 60-70 percent of snaps overall.
Mack has been a Pro Bowler in 9 of his 11 seasons, a first-team All-Pro three times, and the Defensive Player of the Year once. As such, he is a sure-fire Hall of Famer when his career comes to an end. Of course, he Packers would be looking for future production out of the veteran if they sign him, not just looking to the past.
There is precedent for a move like this in recent Packers history. Mack’s current career trajectory and projection over the next few years compares well to a certain player that the Packers signed as a shock in the spring of 2014, about six weeks before Mack’ was drafted by the Raiders.
That player is Julius Peppers, who agreed to terms with the Packers for his 13th season after a long, storied career with the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears.
Like Mack this offseason, Peppers turned 34 years old when he hit free agency in 2014. Like Mack, Peppers’ sack production was a bit down the year before hitting the market: Mack had 17.5 sacks in 2023 but six last year while Peppers had 11.5 in 2012 but dropped to seven in 2013. Like Mack, Peppers was also a three-time All-Pro. Also like Mack, Peppers terrorized the Packers over his career, recording 9.5 sacks in 13 games prior to donning the green and gold.
The two also have remarkably similar overall sack numbers in their careers before their free agent offseasons. Peppers averaged 9.9 sacks per season and 10.8 sacks per 17 games through 2013; Mack’s averages are 9.8 and 10.9.
Perhaps the one big difference between the two is that Peppers had exclusively played as a 4-3 end and moved to a stand-up linebacker role in Green Bay, but he made that transition well. In Green Bay, Peppers totaled 25 sacks over his three seasons, adding eight forced fumbles and two pick-sixes while making one more pro Bowl in 2015, the last of his career.
It seems that the Peppers signing is as close of a comparison as one could imagine for the fit between Mack and Green Bay this spring. If Mack could provide the Packers with the type of veteran presence and consistent production that Peppers did for three years, that would be a welcome sight and should be well worth the investment it would take to sign him.
The biggest question about Mack’s fit with the Packers is finding him a new number — after all, the 52 that he has worn throughout his NFL career is already taken by the guy who would be starting opposite him.