When you run down the list of best Chargers players of the season so far, you won't have to go very far before you get to Tuli Tuipulotu.
The third-year outside linebacker has taken a massive leap in 2025, including notching his first Pro Bowl nomination, stamping himself among the league's best edge rushers with what's been nothing short of a monster season.
Tuipulotu has stuffed the stat sheet in his first season as the full-time starter, setting career marks with 13.0 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, 23 quarterback hits, three passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
It's the first time the 23-year-old surpassed double-digit sacks in his young career, a mark almost every edge rusher in the league has their eye on when the season begins.
But having now crossed it, Tuipulotu has his sights set on more.
"I feel like it's something every edge player in the league wants to hit," Tuipulotu told Chargers.com. "But now that I'm here, I feel like I can get more.
"I'm grateful and looking to keep working," Tuipulotu added.
When you look at where Tuipulotu stacks up among the rest of the league, he's up there with the NFL's best.
His 13 sacks have him tied for third in the league, while his 69 pressures in 15 games puts him eighth among all edge rushers, according to Pro Football Focus.
He's delivered in every facet the Bolts defense has needed him in.
"You can put him anywhere," Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter said. "When you're a dominant player and you play with the physicality he plays with and the relentless motor he plays with, it's almost like, 'Put me wherever, try to get me a 1-on-1 and I can win.'
"I think he's got that mindset, which is awesome to have," Minter added.
Tuipulotu deflected taking all the credit for surpassing the double-digit mark, however, rather giving props for how his teammates have been able to help him get in those spots.
"We all rush together we all help each other out," Tuipulotu said. "In practice and in reps just perfecting our craft. I would say a big shoutout to the guys. DBs always covering for me, guys on the line always rushing together to make sure there's no open gaps to escape out of.
"It's a team effort," Tuipulotu added.
Perhaps what's made Tuipulotu stand out the most is how much havoc he wreaks by just being out there and never stopping his movement.
Even though he's played the third-most defensive snaps on the team, he's one of the prime examples of the standard Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, Minter and the staff have set for the unit.
He just never stops.
"In about every area of his game. Ball moves, he moves," Harbaugh said. "Being able to defeat a blocker, come to a point, strike a blow, control the block, shed, run to the ball. As relentless as any player I've been around.
"With great gifts of physical tools, but an elite trainer in football," Harbaugh added.
The word 'relentless' has become a word that has stuck and become synonymous with the young edge rusher.
Coaches and teammates laud him for being relentless in every way — on the field, in practice, in his preparation and everything else.
Minter believes he's done all of that and beyond, and it's paid dividends when he heads out on the field every week.
"It's a process to be a good player. That word gets thrown around a lot, but for Tuli everything he does leads to how he plays on gameday," Minter said. "Everything he does throughout the week, all the extra time, all the notes, great questions that he asks, he's always really well prepared.
"He practices the way he wants to play, and I think that's really important for guys to see and understand… the concentration on technique and fundamentals, if that's how you want to play on gameday, that's how you have to prepare," Minter added. "And he does that."
It's not a coincidence either, as the preparation that goes into it and how much he puts into every aspect of the game is not optional for Tuipulotu.
To him, it's something he must do to get to what kind of player he wants to be.
"I think I just have a certain mentality where if I don't do enough, I'm not going to perform," Tuipulotu said. "I always feel like the less I do, the less production. It's not even just production as well, the less you put into it, the less you play better.
"I feel like if you do good things, good things happen," Tuipulotu added.
Tuipulotu's big strides in Year 3 have manifested themselves in other things beyond the field as well.
Coming into the NFL as a 20-year-old he admittedly took a quieter approach, learning the ropes, listening to the veterans in front of him, keeping his head down and putting in the work.
Now, he's one of the veterans.
He's become one of the most respected voices in the Chargers locker room as well, developing himself as one of the leaders of the unit and speaking up in ways he didn't before.
"He is really coming to his own in that regard," Minter said.
Tuipulotu is one of the more low-key personalities on the team, but when the time comes and he's needed, he makes his voice heard.
Even though that's not the type of person he is on a day-to-day basis for the most part, it's a whole different case when it comes to the game of football.
"I'm a quiet dude, but sometimes passion overrides being quiet," Tuipulotu said. "Sometimes it just comes out."
He later added: "I love this team, I love playing football and I love winning. That all comes from that, from the passion. The passion of the game, it comes out. You can't control that."
It's been a process since he arrived, but it's a natural one most young players who become leaders go through.
Someone who knew he would get to this point eventually? Khalil Mack, of course, as the future Hall of Famer has praised Tuipulotu since the moment he first interacted with him.
Mack said Tuipulotu has always shown that he was going to be one of those leaders with time, and he has more than earned the right to do so now.
And it's showing in this breakout season.
"He came into the league mature," Mack said. "He was a 20-year-old, I used to say 19. But he was 20, early 20s. He was mature and handled his business at a high level. You can always see his thought process.
"His mind was churning, but the words weren't coming out yet," Mack added. "The words are coming out now. It's always been there, he's always been a leader… Now he's stepping into that role himself just understanding, 'No man, you earned your right to speak up and be the voice when we need it.'"
It's a credit to the humble mindset he came in with that has allowed him to get to this point as well.
He's taken it to another level that has caught the attention of everyone in the building this year.
"I think even this year, he prepares at a much higher and detailed rate than he did last year," Minter said. "He's continuing just to grow and see the fruits of that process.
"Then the guys have done a great job pumping him up and saying, 'You speak, we're going to listen,'" Minter added. "Because he speaks from the heart and got a great mindset for it."
Tuipulotu has more than earned the respect, and he's determined to keep proving it to the Bolts.
"I'm a firm believer in credibility," Tuipulotu said. "Nobody is going to listen to the guy who's not putting in the work or not showing up when they need to show up."
With two games remaining in the regular season, Tuipulotu will continue being one of the team's most important members heading into January.
Winning remains the number one priority said Tuipulotu, but as far as this season on a personal level, he's determined to make this the baseline from here on out.
And he wants to keep setting the bar higher in what's already been a career season.
"Double digits was one of my goals coming into the season and I hit it," Tuipulotu said. "Now that I'm here, I feel like there's more.
"I feel like now that I have a taste of it, now that I realize that I can do, I feel like I should always be able to do it," Tuipulotu added.
Mack added: "I've always said the sky is the limit for Tuli."
