Forgive Los Angeles Chargers fans if they feel a little deja vu right about now.
With OTAs and minicamp down and training camp ahead, there are questions around the interior offensive line in front of Justin Herbert.
Not emergency-level questions like the last few years. But questions that lurk in the background of the hype surrounding the arrival of offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. Chargers fans, after all, are pretty uniquely well-versed in how a bad interior line can ruin an entire offense, no matter how innovative.
Dramatic? Perhaps. But the Chargers drafting Jake Slaughter in the second round this year certainly raised at least an eyebrow from many, considering he was a college center drafted to play guard.
Slaughter’s minicamp usage, then, was one of the more concerning details to emerge from minicamp work.
NFL minicamp concerns include Chargers again
Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh
Jim Harbaugh | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
One would think that, after drafting a center with the intention to play him at guard, the Chargers would do just that, especially during sessions where contact is minimal.
And while Slaughter did get some work at guard, the starting lineup looked like this:
T: Rashawn Slater
LG: Kayode Awosika
C: Tyler Biadasz
RG: Cole Strange
RT: Joe Alt
Slaughter really has no business losing reps to the likes of Kayode Awosika, who happens to be new to the offense and team via free agency, too. He just posted a 57.9 Pro Football Focus grade last year and is now on his third team.
Likewise, Slaughter shouldn’t lose snaps to Trevor Penning, a former first-round bust who came over last year and couldn’t make a difference on a miserable line while posting a 53.5 grade, ranked 64th out of 81 guards in the NFL.
Sure, the Chargers are doing a slow burn with the rookie. They’re saying and doing the right things and the intent is still for Slaughter to start. But given the unease around the pick in the first place, there’s valid, if not slight, concerns.
And hey, if this is the biggest concern for the Chargers right now, they’re doing pretty well. It’s hard to complain about a contender only sporting this as a major pain point coming out of minicamp, and there's plenty of time for it to course correct in the sweltering heat of training camp over the summer and preseason.
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