Chargers have officially hit it out of the park with risky Travis Burke selection

The Los Angeles Chargers are no strangers to draft swings.

While they've been a typically conservative organization under Joe Hortiz, they've been more than willing to bet on upside in the draft— even trusting Jake Slaughter to compete for the starting left guard spot this season after not playing a single snap there in college. It's not necessarily a risk-taking mindset—it's a confidence they have in their ability to evaluate and develop talent.

Of course, Slaughter has now been bumped over to center with the ACL injury to Tyler Biadasz. Hopefully that flexibility pays dividends for them this season.

But they have another rookie offensive lineman, fourth-round selection Travis Burke, who's also justifying their faith in him by the day. Coming into the draft, Burke was a tantalizing tackle prospect, coming in at a behemoth 6'9" and 325 lbs, but there were concerns about his athleticism and his ability to recover against faster pass rushers.

Evidently the Chargers aren't concerned, though. Jim Harbaugh said on Monday that Burke's emergence during the preseason has allowed them to keep Trey Pipkins III in the competition for the starting left guard spot.

Obviously, Pipkins being able to play guard isn't a major victory here. But for the Chargers to evidently feel comfortable moving Burke into a starting role in the event of an injury to Joe Alt or Rashawn Slater is a major sign of confidence in the fourth-round selection.

Travis Burke has already quieted many of the concerns he carried into the 2026 NFL Draft

Burke, of course had major upside coming into the Draft, and any team could see that. But for a team like the Chargers, who were putting a premium on athleticism and physicality along their offensive line this offseason, Burke was somewhat of an unconventional pick.

Here, for example, are what Lance Zierlein listed as Burke's weaknesses in his scouting report for NFL.com:

• Will struggle to reach landmarks for back-side cut-off blocks.
• Lumbering movement limits success in space and on combo climbs.
• Can be displaced by stout 4i/5-technique take-ons.
• Labors out of his stance and is late to his set-points against speed.
• Average ability to recover and redirect once his edge is compromised.
• Still overcommits and rides too deep on some end/tackle twists.

All of these things sound like limiting factors in McDaniel's scheme. From the start, it seemed like Burke was going to need to do some major work in terms of his athleticism and recovery—utilizing his length in a more rangy fashion—before he was ready to take on significant snaps at the NFL level.

But he showed a level of physicality, intensity, and willingness to grow during the preseason that was highly impressive. Across 76 pass-blocking snaps, Burke allowed just two pressures and zero sacks, and he had multiple highlight blocks working his way off the line of scrimmage and completely disarming his assignment.

Burke has evidently been everything the Chargers hoped he could be during his rookie season, and it will be exciting to see how he continues to develop from here.

Travis Burke (hopefully) won't have to play significant snaps this season

Let's be realistic, though. Pipkins should not win the left guard competition, and it's unclear to what extent Harbaugh genuinely means that "platooning" the position is a possibility. Awosika seemed like the clear winner (even if it was by default) coming out of training camp, and he has at least some starting experience in a versatile scheme under Ben Johnson with the Detroit Lions.

Pipkins will almost certainly be the Chargers' main swing tackle and perhaps a backup guard in 2026. That's the best-case scenario here.

But the best-case scenario also involves not seeing Burke on the field at all this season. Both Alt and Slater are heading into the season fully healthy. Although Slater missed some practices with a soft-tissue injury, he seems to be at full strength as Los Angeles approaches Week 1.

As good as Burke looked in the preseason and as promising as he's been so far, the Chargers should be desperately hoping that they don't have to use him this season— as that would mean both Alt and Slater have suffered injuries again.

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