For the most part, we've now made it through the doldrums of the NFL offseason. The Los Angeles Chargers have begun Phase 2 of their offseason program with the start of their mandatory minicamp on June 16.
While OTAs certainly provided some intrigue, mini-camp is where roster and positional battles truly start to take shape. These competitions always provide the main reason for excitement during this portion of the offseason, especially those that have implications for Week 1 starting duties.
For the Chargers, this has crystallized into one singular battle— the competition for the starting left guard spot. It certainly hasn't gone how many fans envisioned it at the end of last season, with a trio of Kayode Awosika, rookie Jake Slaughter, and Trevor Penning duking it out for snaps.
At this point, it seems like the single remaining thorn in the side of the Chargers' offense, or at least the lone factor that remains wholly undetermined.
But Chargers writer Kris Rhim made it known that Los Angeles' decisions during mandatory minicamp could provide us with a long-awaited hint at how the competition is going:
"But time on task matters, and the fact that the Chargers have chosen to play Awosika next to Rashawn Slater more than Slaughter or Penning, who was on the team last season, is significant, and if that continues through mandatory minicamp, it signals that this is a true competition between these three players." Kris Rhim, ESPN
If Awosika continues to get significant first-team reps this week, it seems as though he'll have truly entered the competition for the starting job.
Mandatory mini-camp will provide Chargers fans with a major update on the ongoing LG competition
When the Chargers entered OTAs, it seemed as though the hierarchy at left guard would be relatively clear. Slaughter, who Los Angeles spent second-round draft capital on and remained confident in all offseason, would get the first crack. Then Penning, who saw some snaps for the Chargers last season, would also have a chance. Awosika, who started four games for the Detroit Lions last season as a backup guard, would need to work his way onto the roster.
Instead, the Chargers began OTAs with Awosika on the first-team and Slaughter primarily on the second-team. Penning mostly worked off to the side with trainers as he attempted to rehab an injury.
But developments during OTAs can often be misleading. Teams can tend towards experimentations that they wouldn't undertake in training camp, and the lack of full press access can make transparency with ongoing roster battles difficult. But mandatory mini-camp is what truly sets the stage for these competitions.
Both Penning and Slaughter have now cycled in for first-team reps. But the longer Awosika continues to take the lion's share, the more likely it seems he'll step in at left guard for Week 1. Even if the Chargers are simply trying to allow Slaughter to get his feet under him at his new position, Awosika, at the very least, has had an extended opportunity to prove his viability under Mike McDaniel's zone-blocking scheme.
We won't truly know anything until Week 1 arrives. But as Rhim states, the closer we get to the start of the regular season, the better feel we'll have for what is going on with the Chargers' offensive line.
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