The Los Angeles Chargers, of course, have had their fair share of offensive line turmoil this offseason. What other way could it have gone?
Even with ample cap space at their disposal, they fully placed their trust in Mike McDaniel to identify and, in a way, gamble with their interior talent. They signed Cole Strange to a two-year, $13 million deal, and they drafted Jake Slaughter in the second round to compete with Kayode Awosika, Trevor Penning, and Trey Pipkins III for the starting left guard spot.
We know how the left guard competition unfolded. When Tyler Biadasz went down with a season-ending ACL injury, Slaughter was bumped over to the starting center spot. That left Awosika as the clear favorite to prevail in the left guard competion, and he'll begin the season as their main starter at that spot.
There will be the temptation to overreact at any failings on the left side of the line given the doubts that still linger about Awosika and his competitors. But it's Strange, who went unchallenged as Los Angeles' starting right guard, that should have the largest spotlight to deal with as the Chargers begin the season..
While he put together a stretch of solid play last season with the Miami Dolphins, he doesn't yet have the sustained pedigree of NFL success to warrant that sort of confidence. He needs to earn it, and that starts with the Chargers' Week 1 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.
Cole Strange must justify the Chargers' confidence in him as soon as the regular season starts
It's important to note that this is not a criticism of the Chargers' approach to replenishing the interior of their offensive line this offseason. McDaniel's scheme allows the offense to work around many deficits in guard talent by limiting true dropback scenarios, and the talent they have in Awosika and Strange should be considered sufficient until it's proved otherwise.
But Strange still hasn't earned to confidence of the Chargers' fanbase as a whole. His preseason reps with the starting offensive line looked rough, and even a glance back at his production from last season doesn't inspire a ton of optimism.
He allowed 21 pressures and two sacks across 457 pass-blocking snaps with the Miami Dolphins in 2025, and while he greatly improved as a run blocker towards the end of the season, the whole of his work across that campaign only puts him, at best, as a league-average guard.
Even if there was a competition, it's likely that Strange would've won out. McDaniel has showed enough faith in the athleticism and power of the young guard for that to be clear. But that's an entirely different thing than there being no competition at all.
Strange is walking into this season unchallenged as a starter along the Chargers' offensive line. He needs to prove that what we saw at the end of last season is sustainable over the course of an entire campaign before we're able to truly justify that decision.
The Cardinals provide a solid opportunity to get started on that. Their defensive line, outside of Walter Nolen III, doesn't present a particularly daunting threat to Los Angeles' protection.
But Strange didn't acquit himself during the preseason, and if he can't begin to do so in Week 1 against Arizona, it's only right that the spotlight will continue to fall upon him as the Chargers' new protection plan takes shape.
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