Heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Chargers needed to take a swing on a guard.
With the departure of Zion Johnson and the release of Mekhi Becton, the Chargers' primary aim this offseason was to re-shape the interior of their offensive line. But apart from their signing of Tyler Biadasz to a three-year, $30 million deal, they didn't truly splurge in free agency to get this done.
They re-signed Trevor Penning and added Cole Strange, who showed some promising signs at right guard under Mike McDaniel in Miami, on a two-year, $13 million deal. But this left them with a glaring hole.
Even with their signing of Awosika, they needed to draft a guard who could, at the very least, compete for the starting left guard spot. Leaving it to Penning was not a true option. Therefore, many were surprised when they nabbed Jake Slaughter, who did not play a single snap at guard during his time in college, in the second round of the Draft.
But both Joe Hortiz and McDaniel made it clear that Slaughter has the athletic skill-set to make the positional switch. Now that OTAs are underway, however, and Awosika seems to have taken an early lead in the competition, fans may need to begin to readjust their expectations for Slaughter's rookie season.
Jake Slaughter could very well find himself in a backup role with the Chargers. It could be for the best.
While it seemed like a bit of a reach at the time, Slaughter was worth the second-round draft capital. Hortiz claimed that multiple teams called him after the Slaughter selection was made to express their regrets on not being able to grab him themselves. He's clearly a hard worker, and he certainly has the agility to fit into McDaniel's scheme.
But so far through OTAs, Awosika appears slated to take on starting duties. He's taken first-team reps through each of the first two weeks of the offseason program, slotting in alongside Joe Alt, Biadasz, Strange, and Rashawn Slater. Slaughter, meanwhile, has taken second-team reps, while Penning has mostly worked off to the side with trainers and positional coaches.
Awosika, for his part, does have starting experience. Across his past fours seasons with the Detroit Lions, Awosika saw 11 starts. Although he was never a consistently viable starter, he at the very least has a developed NFL pedigree.
Now, the plan could easily be for Slaughter to spend much of OTAs with the second team in order to get his feet wet at the guard spot in McDaniel's scheme. The demands are likely much higher than what was expected of him at the college level.
But there's also a world in which Awosika impresses enough with the first-team reps he's been given to claim the job outright, putting Slaughter as a backup guard/center on the depth chart in Week 1.
At the time of the Draft, the Chargers claiming only a backup utility lineman in the first two rounds would likely have been seen as a major disappointment. But in this case, Awosika's presence provides some major insurance, and it could buy Slaughter some extra time before he's ultimately thrown into the fire.
It was always a gamble to expect a starting-caliber lineman once Olaivavega Ioane went off the board. Perhaps the Chargers have gotten one, just not in the way many fans expected.
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