[2] On January 17, 2015, Emanuel played in the 2015 East-West Shrine Game and was a part of Jim Zorn's West team that lost the 19–3 to the East.

On March 26, 2015, Emanuel participated at North Dakota State's pro day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only performed positional drills.

[10] Throughout training camp, Emanuel competed to be a backup outside linebacker against Tourek Williams, Cordarro Law, Colton Underwood, Brock Hekking, and Ryan Mueller.

[11] Head coach Mike McCoy named Emanuel the fourth outside linebacker on the depth chart to begin the regular season, behind Melvin Ingram, Jeremiah Attaochu, and Cordarro Law.

[15] Head coach Mike McCoy named Emanuel a starting outside linebacker to begin the regular season, replacing Jeremiah Attachou.

He finished his second season in 2016 with 58 combined tackles (36 solo), a pass deflection, one forced fumble, and was credited with half a sack in 16 games and 11 starts.

On December 10, 2017, Emanuel recorded two solo tackles, broke up a pass, and made his second career interception in the Chargers’ 30–13 win against the Washington Redskins in Week 14.

[18] Emanuel entered training camp slated as the starting strong side linebacker, but saw minor competition for the role from rookies Uchenna Nwosu and Kyzir White.

[23] Head coach Anthony Lynn named Emanuel the starter to begin the regular season, alongside Jatavis Brown and middle linebacker Denzel Perryman.