It's no secret the LA Chargers have struggled to protect Justin Herbert this season. Thankfully, Herbert is the equivalent of a football Terminator and has weathered the storm to lead the Chargers to a 7-3 record on the season.
With the trade deadline passed, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt out for the season, and the fact that offensive linemen don't grow on trees, there's not much the Chargers can do to improve the offensive line situation. Fans expecting wholesale changes will inevitably be disappointed.
However, there is one card the team can still play that related to the 2025 trade deadline. It's time to stop relying on Austin Deculus in any form and give new trade addition Trevor Penning a chance on the offensive line.
Chargers must bench Austin Deculus for Trevor Penning
The Chargers traded a future sixth-round pick for Penning, who has had a woeful career thus far with the New Orleans Saints. Penning was the name every Chargers fan wanted to avoid in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft and thus far, he's played like the draft bust fans were worried he would be.
That being said, this is a fresh situation and the Chargers don't have many options. There's at least some upside in Penning's game, and it's hard for him to be any worse than Deculus has been this season.
Deculus, whom the Chargers traded a seventh-round pick for before the season, has genuinely been one of the worst tackles in the entire sport. He put together yet another stinker on Sunday night, allowing four pressures in 42 pass-block snaps.
Per Pro Football Focus, Deculus has allowed 27 pressures in 225 pass-block snaps this season. That's warranted a 33.1 pass-block grade, which ranks dead last among the 61 tackles with at least 200 snaps. His 92.8 pass-block efficiency rate is also the lowest of the 61 qualified tackles.
Penning may not be a world beater but he's better than the worst tackle in the sport. His most recent starting experience is at guard as the Saints tried to kick him inside, but Jim Harbaugh already confirmed that the Bolts view Penning as a tackle, not a guard.
It wouldn't hurt to try this, especially if Bobby Hart is going to miss more time with injury. Hart blossomed into a surprising difference maker for the Chargers after not starting an NFL game for a half-decade.
Hart may be the frontrunner to play left tackle if he is fully healthy heading into Week 11. But either way, there is absolutely no reason for the Chargers to continue trotting Deculus out there like a lamb to the slaughter.
Harbaugh has harped all season about how the offensive line is a competition and that the Chargers would lean on the most talented players. As the worst tackle in the league, Deculus clearly is losing that competition.