Tuli Tuipulotu
Los Angeles ChargersUNDERPAIDModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 16 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
Tier 8 (#65) rookie to tier 6 (#44) sophomore to tier 1 (#6) breakout in 2025 is a 59-spot three-year jump that puts Tuipulotu in the top-10 edge defender conversation. The USC 2022 Pac-12 DPOY plus the 54th overall draft slot plus the Jesse Minter defensive scheme under Jim Harbaugh appear to be the catalysts. The 2026 question is whether Tuipulotu earns his first Pro Bowl plus holds tier 1 or whether the 2025 finish was a one-year context spike.
Tuipulotu came out of USC as the Los Angeles Chargers' 2nd-round pick (54th overall) in 2023 after winning the 2022 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and Morris Trophy. He spent his rookie year as a rotational rusher before emerging as the Chargers' primary edge in 2025. His STTM career runs tier 8 (#65) rookie, tier 6 (#44) sophomore, and tier 1 (#6) breakout in 2025.
Strengths
- Tier 1 (#6) breakout in his third year confirms a top-10 edge defender ceiling that few 54th overall picks ever reach.
- USC 2022 Pac-12 DPOY plus the Morris Trophy gives him real college pedigree that the NFL trajectory has validated.
Concerns
- Single tier 1 finish without prior top-30 STTM history raises the question of whether the 2025 breakout is structural or a one-year context spike.
- Chargers' broader defensive identity around Jim Harbaugh's first defensive coordinator continuity puts Tuipulotu's ceiling partly scheme-dependent.
What to watch: Whether Tuipulotu wins his first Pro Bowl in 2026 plus holds tier 1 or 2, the threshold for confirming the 2025 breakout was structural.