EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Chargers are placing left tackle Rashawn Slater on injured reserve after successful ankle surgery, the team announced Friday.
Slater suffered a high right ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of the Chargers’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks and will miss at least four games.
Losing Slater adds to a long list of Chargers injuries as the team tries to win its first game of the season this Sunday against the Denver Broncos. The Chargers will likely be without three of its starting linemen, with Joe Alt (neck) and left guard Kayode Awosika (fibula) nursing injuries.
Awosika hasn’t played since Week 2; his backup, Trey Pipkins III (knee), was placed on injured reserve after Week 2, and the third string, Trevor Penning, is in concussion protocol.
The injuries don’t stop there for the Chargers either: safety Derwin James Jr. (hamstring), cornerback Donte Jackson (hamstring), and wide receiver Ladd McConkey (foot) all missed practice this week. James didn’t play in the loss against Seattle; McConkey and Jackson exited the game early.
The injuries to the offensive line mean the Chargers could play a group that features four rookies Sunday -- Logan Taylor, Jake Slaughter, Jacob Spomer and Travis Burke -- as they did for the final eleven snaps of the loss against Seattle. The Chargers have other options including, Branson Taylor who had a standout camp and is eligible to return from injured reserve this week, rookie lineman Alex Harkey, and veteran Daniel Brunskill, who the team signed to the practice squad this week, among others.
Slater, who is in the first year of a four-year, $114 million extension he signed in July 2025, missed all of last season after rupturing the patellar tendon in his left knee in training camp.
Through four weeks this year, he ranked as the league’s eighth-worst tackle in pass-block win rate (75.3%), according to ESPN Analytics/Next Gen Stats. In Sunday’s loss, he had a team-low one-pressure allowed.