As the Los Angeles Chargers took their second straight loss at the hands of a banged-up Washington Commanders team, falling to 3-2 on the season, the play of their offensive line continued to be a glaring flaw, limiting the potency of their offense and forcing the team to live on quick throws and check-downs.
Yet, while the team cannot do anything about the injuries to star tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, they do still have one recourse: starting Jamaree Salyer and Andre James over the team's struggling starters.
While injuries have been a major issue for this offensive line so far this season, what has been even more devastating is the lackluster play of the linemen who have still been healthy. The longer that players like Bradley Bozeman, Zion Johnson, Trey Pipkins III and Austin Deculus struggle to provide any sort of protection, the longer the Chargers will be mired in the mediocrity that has defined their offense over the last two weeks.
The Chargers could do a major overhaul of their offensive line in a desperate attempt to make the offense viable
Even before Alt went down disastrously with a high ankle sprain, this offensive line did not look good. Through the first five weeks of the NFL season, they allowed 17 sacks (tied for third-most in the NFL) and have struggled to give quarterback Justin Herbert adequate time to throw.
Although Herbert has done his best to keep the offense going, even squeaking out a win against the Denver Broncos in Week 3, this has done serious damage to the team's scoring ability, and they have scored only 28 combined points between their last two matchups.
Even with Alt out in Week 5, the team had the opportunity to choose between starting Deculus or Salyer in his place, and they clearly made the wrong choice. Deculus struggled throughout the course of the game to contain any of the pass rushers that the Commanders threw at him, and he quickly became a target over Pipkins.
While neither Salyer, who is in his fourth NFL season, or James, who is in his seventh, present necessarily staunch options on the line, both have had experience starting in the past, and swapping Salyer for Deculus and James for the (mightily struggling) Bozeman could be the shake-up this team needs.
While it is, admittedly, a serious gamble to swap out two starters so quickly, the Chargers desperately need something to go their way, and the status quo clearly is not cutting it. Against a relatively benign Miami Dolphins' pass rush in Week 6, Los Angeles could have the perfect opportunity to take this risk, showing some sense of urgency in their intention to make this team a contender.