The Rashawn Slater injury saga continues. After his knee flared up in San Diego on August 4th, Slater didn't miss either of LA's next two practices. But on August 8th, he missed his first practice of camp. HC Jim Harbaugh discussed it in the context of giving Slater a veteran rest day at the time. That's not necessarily an uncommon development for the Chargers with either their older players or those who are "working through something".
But then Slater missed practice on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. That made it four straight absences from practice. At the podium today, Harbaugh announced that would extend to five. Slater did not practice on Saturday.
The Chargers are still waiting for the return of LT Rashawn Slater to practice.
The missed practice today isn't exactly unexpected. On Tuesday, Slater spoke to the media and said he did not know when he would return to practice. That comment certainly made it seem like a return wasn't imminent
Chargers LT Rashawn Slater says he does not have a date yet on when he'll return to practice.
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) August 11, 2026
Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh said last week that he intends to play the starters for a drive vs. the 49ers. He also said that he intends to play the starters for multiple drives in the final preseason game vs. the Rams. That would mean that the coaching staff wants to at least see three drives of the starting offensive line together with QB Justin Herbert. Hopefully, Slater can return to practice and at least get some live game reps with the starters before the regular season. But the Chargers seem to be playing it very cautious after the injury scare in San Diego.
In other injury news, Harbaugh said that CB Tarheeb Still would return to practice after missing the last few. But per ESPN's Kris Rhim, Still did not end up practicing.
Harbaugh designated Slater's injury as a "muscle" issue that was unrelated to the patellar tendon repair when he spoke earlier this week. Slater on the other hand said he did tweak his left knee on his surgically repaired leg. The Chargers are never going to release clear injury information especially at this point in the calendar, but the disconnect felt noteworthy.
The Chargers will have three training camp practices left after today before their second preseason game vs. SF. If Slater is to play against the Niners, he'd probably have to practice at least once this week. But as of now, I'd imagine the Chargers take the cautious route and hold him out. We'll see how the story develops.
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