It had been a relatively quiet week for Chargers second-round pick OL Jake Slaughter. After receiving some non-padded first-team guard reps last week, he had largely been relegated to center and guard reps on the second unit. Trey Pipkins, Kayode Awosika, and Branson Taylor all got first-team padded LG reps before he did.
So it begged the question of if Slaughter was going to get his day in pads with the starters during training camp. Luckily enough for him, his time has come. Per ESPN's Kris Rhim, Slaughter started at left guard in Saturday's practice. It's the team's third padded practice to this point in camp and second one in "full pads".
Padded starter LG reps are Jake Slaughter's big opportunity to start this year, barring an injury.
When the Chargers drafted Slaughter in April, they surprised many with the decision to announce him as a guard. He never played guard in college. At the Senior Bowl, he had two guard reps that did not go his way. But GM Joe Hortiz tabbed the Florida product as his "blue star" player of the draft. The coaching staff also believes his center to guard conversion is feasible this offseason.
With Branson Taylor getting starter reps throughout the last two weeks, the guard competition now involves five players: Kayode Awosika, Trey Pipkins III, Branson Taylor, Jake Slaughter, and Trevor Penning. With Slaughter getting the start today, that leaves Penning as the only competitor who has not gotten padded first-team LG reps (yet).
All five players will likely get some O-Line reps in the teams' first preseason game against Houston on Thursday. Today at the podium, Jim Harbaugh said he wanted to play the starters in one series vs. the 49ers and two series vs. the Rams this preseason. That likely means the team will have picked a left guard starter by the San Francisco game at SoFi on August 20th. That also lines up approximately with his previously given timelines.
The Chargers will ultimately place the five best players along the offensive line. But if Slaughter doesn't win the LG competition, his only route to playing time on the field would be an injury. If the team feels comfortable about starting Slaughter at guard by the end of the competition process, it would probably rectify how many fans feel about their IOL approach in free agency and the draft. But a second-round IOL having a possible redshirt season would raise some questions about that offseason strategy.
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