From the time the Los Angeles Chargers revealed their hand in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft, selecting guard/center Jake Slaughter after trading back and amassing additional late-round draft capital, it's been somewhat of a polarizing decision.
Of course, the upside was obvious. Slaughter was one of the best centers in college, and he had the technique and physicality to theoretically make the move to guard in Mike McDaniel's scheme. But he hadn't played a single snap at the position in college, and there were many who had doubts about his availability to make that switch immediately upon his transition to the NFL.
Compounded with the lingering frustrations about the Chargers' lack of splash moves in free agency, the Slaughter selection was always going to be a polarizing one even if he won the starting left guard job out of the gate.
That debate, though, may suddenly have been nullified when Tyler Biadasz went down with an apparent knee injury in joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday. Per Mike Garafolo at NFL Network, it certainly looks like the injury is going to be a long-term one.
Mike Garafolo says Tyler Biadasz's injury will be a "long term absence" with "several ligaments injured". https://t.co/sRXsE3DOcZ
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) August 19, 2026
Slaughter is the heir apparent for starting center snaps in Biadasz's absence— and that means the positional flexibility that's been harped on all offseason by the coaching staff and front office have suddenly come into play.
Jake Slaughter needs to be the center of the 'now' for the Chargers
As the competition for the starting left guard spot began to unfold in training camp, a storyline began to emerge regarding Slaughter.
Even if he didn't beat out Kayode Awosika and the other competitors at left guard, that was an acceptable outcome for many. He was seen as the 'center of the future' for this offense, and any positional flexibility he provided at guard would simply add bonus depth to the O-line room.
That's a fair assessment to make. Slaughter looked solid at guard in the preseason opener against the Houston Texans, but his pedigree is almost certainly at center. He allowed just four pressures and one sack at the position across 421 pass-blocking snaps in his final season at Florida, and he's spent quite a bit of time during training camp working as the second-team center behind Biadasz.
Biadasz is under contract through 2028, but the Chargers have a relatively painless out on his contract after next season.
Having Slaughter as a backup center also made sense with the way this roster was constructed. Outside of UDFA Jacob Spomer and former UDFA Josh Kaltenberger, the Chargers don't currently have a true backup on the roster. Both Slaughter and Strange have experience at the position, which would have provided some additional flexibility even if everyone had entered the season fully healthy.
If I was making a pitch a week ago for the Slaughter selection in spite of his lack of concrete status in the left guard competition, this is how I would've framed it. But the Biadasz injury changes things entirely.
Now, Slaughter will likely be trusted as the Chargers' starting center from the first snap of Week 1, and the very pedigree that enticed Joe Hortiz to take a swing on him in the second round will hopefully come to fruition on an NFL field. There's still a long way to go for Slaughter to get comfortable with the workings of the offense and build chemistry with Justin Herbert.
But it's vastly preferable to have a high-upside backup like Slaughter at the position rather than a shakier, low-ceiling veteran— like Andre James, for example. We'll see how the season plays out, but there weren't many who were expecting the Slaughter selection to pay dividends this quickly.
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