The Los Angeles Chargers, of all their goals this offseason, were most clearly hell-bent on accomplishing one central mission— replenishing the depth of their offensive line.
This started with a series of signings at the start of free agency. They signed center Tyler Biadasaz before the start of free agency, and he should represent a major upgrade over the retired Bradley Bozeman. They then added Cole Strange to start at right guard. Although there are doubts about his ability to remain consistently viable as a starter, his performance in the latter half of last season under Mike McDaniel was promising at the very least.
The left guard spot, however, remains up in the air. Trevor Penning re-signed on a one-year, $3.5 million deal after the Chargers traded for him at last year's deadline. They then signed Kayode Awosika to a one-year, $2 million deal and added Jake Slaughter in the second round of the Draft.
The three will compete in OTAs and training camp for the starting spot. It's a gamble, but if Los Angeles gets viable starting play out of any of them this season, it's one that will have paid off massively.
It appears, so far, as though Awosika has taken an early lead in the competition. If he can stick for even a series of games as a viable starter, his addition will be an absolute home-run for Joe Hortiz and company.
Kayode Awosika has taken an early lead in the LG competition, and he could quickly prove to be one of the Chargers' best offseason additions
It must first be stated that, under Mike McDaniel's offense, the bar for viable guard play is relatively low. His outside-zone run scheme is less dependent on the physicality of guards and more dependent on their ability to move in space and block vertically. He's often able to scheme around deficits on the interior of the offensive line as long as he has the right personnel.
Slaughter, although he never played a snap at guard in college, was selected because of his athletic skill-set. One would imagine Awosika was sought out under the same criteria.
Last season with the Detroit Lions, Awosika started four games. He allowed 10 pressures and three sacks on 168-pass blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus. He saw at least two starts in each of his four seasons in Detroit.
The expectation when Awosika signed was not that he would start. But through the first two weeks of OTAs, he's consistently seen first-team reps, while Slaughter has taken second-team snaps and Penning has worked off to the side with positional coaches as he attempts to get back into the fold.
With Slaughter being selected in the second round, it would make sense if he had a clear line to taking the job from Awosika. But, first and foremost, the Chargers merely need viable guard play. With Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater set to be ready for training camp, the offensive line has a wide enough margin for error that even a league-average guard could work wonders.
It seems as though Awosika has provided that so far through OTAs. If he earns the starting spot and holds onto it, giving Slaughter additional time to get his feet wet at guard before he's thrown into the fire, he could be the Chargers' best value signing of the offseason.
Add us as a preferred source on Google