The Los Angeles Chargers certainly haven't got what they bargained for when they signed Cole Strange to a two-year, $13 million contract this offseason.
The dominant line of thinking was that, given the improvements the former first-round pick saw towards the end of last season in Mike McDaniel's scheme in Miami, there was room for him to unlock a higher ceiling with some schematic continuity. Plus, McDaniel's scheme—at least theoretically—didn't require top guard play. The thought was that Strange could provide league-average protection in both the run and the pass game, and that would be enough to successfully turn the page on the turmoil the offensive line went through with Bradley Bozeman and Mekhi Becton taking major snaps.
Of course, much like the rest of the improvements the Chargers were expecting to see under McDaniel, that didn't come to fruition. Strange has been among the worst guards in the league in pass protection this season—and to cap it all off, he came into the organization essentially uncontested for the starting right guard spot. With the injuries Los Angeles has seen, it had no choice but to trot Strange out there on a week-to-week basis and hope for the best.
That came to an end, though, on Sunday, when Strange was benched after a series of abysmal reps against Sheldon Rankins on the interior. When asked after the game about the potential of benching Strange moving forward, Harbaugh said:
"There is a chance. We'll look at that."
It doesn't feel like an overwhelmingly likely outcome at this point, but it's at least something the Chargers are entertaining as they exit Week 9 with an 0-8 record. That's the most we could ask for given the sheer lack of talent on this interior.
The Chargers' Cole Strange experiment is coming to an end at some point—could it be as soon as next week?
Players have strings of bad reps all the time, especially when opposing defenses are able to recognize and exploit weaknesses in the protection plan. Here's what Strange had to say, yesterday, about his benching in the second half:
"They pulled me out. I had like three or four bad snaps right back-to-back-to-back. Got Justin [Herbert] hit twice. I'm big enough to own it whenever I'm not playing good enough. I wasn't. They pulled me out. So it is what it is."
Strange's struggles, though, haven't just been isolated to that matchup with Rankins. Through eight games, he's allowed 19 pressures and three sacks on 307 pass-blocking snaps, and although he's shown some flashes in the run game, the improvement simply hasn't been what the Chargers were hoping for compared to his performance with the Dolphins last season.
Now, Strange hasn't been the offensive line's only issue, obviously. There were consecutive weeks, after Rashawn Slater, Joe Alt, Kayode Awosika, and Trey Pipkins III went down, where Los Angeles was forced to start four rookies along the line. Travis Burke has largely held up well at the two tackle spots, especially in the run game, but neither Logan Taylor nor Alex Harkey showed enough to justify their starting spots.
But there's where the issue comes in with Strange. The Chargers have other options on the interior of the line, sure. Branson Taylor returned from the IR recently, and he saw some snaps at left guard on Sunday night. UDFA center Jacob Spomer is also a playable option, and slotting him in in the middle of line could have been a way to give Jake Slaughter some reps at left guard over Logan Taylor. Awosika's return to action in the near future should help stabilize things as well.
But even if Awosika is back next week, the Chargers essentially have three options to replace Strange—their pair of sixth-round rookies Harkey and Logan Taylor or the recently healthy Branson Taylor, none of whom have played a snap at the position in their careers outside of last night.
Even if McDaniel (by some miracle) isn't gone this offseason, though, Strange will almost certainly be out of the building. His $1.75 million dead cap for 2027 will be tough to swallow, but it's still significantly less than the $7.75 million he'll be owed on the second year of his deal. What's the harm, then, in seeing what the depth pieces can provide at the position over the coming weeks?
It's an option that's at least worth exploring, and it seems like Harbaugh is more than open it.
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