Las Vegas Raiders 2022 opponent offseason review: Los Angeles Chargers

After a Week 18 loss last season to the Las Vegas Raiders that kept them out of the playoffs the Los Angeles Chargers made the necessary offseason moves to try to close the gap between them and the top two teams in the AFC West.

As it seems to be every offseason, the Los Angeles Chargers are not only dark horse favorites to win the AFC West, but many national media analysts have the Chargers as the second favorite to win the Super Bowl behind only the Buffalo Bills, and after a very eventful offseason for the Chargers they believe that they have made the necessary moves to overtake the Raiders and Chiefs this season.

The Raiders visit the Chargers in Los Angeles in Week 1 to start the 2022 season, as the Chargers look to seek revenge for the Week 18 overtime loss to the Raiders to end last season and keep them out of the playoffs. To do that, the Chargers paired their All-Pro defensive end Joey Bosa with another former All-Pro player that Raiders fans are very familiar with.

The first big move that was made by the Chargers in the 2022 offseason was trading for Bears defensive end Khalil Mack. Now, Raiders fans will point to the fact that Mack hasn’t been the same player he was with their franchise, and to some effect, that is true.

He has dealt with some injury issues and some lower sack numbers the last two seasons, but he was still pretty dominant against the run, which was one of the Chargers’ Achilles heels last season. In four seasons in Chicago, Mack accumulated 36 sacks.

To get him, Los Angeles traded a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 third-round pick. The Chargers and many others believe that they now have the best edge defensive pair not only in the AFC West but in the entire NFL.