Even if Rashawn Slater returns to full strength and provides the Los Angeles Chargers with their pair of star tackles for the remainder of the season, this team simply isn't going to have one of the best (or even most mediocre) offensive lines in the league.
The interior protection has been far too inconsistent. Even setting aside the injuries that have plagued the left guard spot with all three of Kayode Awosika, Trey Pipkins III, and Trevor Penning spending time on IR, Cole Strange has been nowhere close to a starting-caliber guard to this point in the season. Jake Slaughter has seen some improvement, but he's going through the normal growing pains that any rookie adjusting to the NFL would be expected to.
Even if Awosika and Pipkins were both healthy, then—and the Chargers had somehow sorted out their left guard rotation with a clear victor within the first couple weeks of the season—the ceiling of this team's protection would simply be capped by the talent level available on the interior.
And yet, as Awosika prepares to return from IR this week, that still represents a major boon to the offense. Assuming Awosika can perform at a starting level, like the Chargers hoped he would at the start of the season, he will represent an immediate upgrade over sixth-round rookie Logan Taylor on the left side of the line.
Even if Los Angeles doesn't come away with a single win this season, they need to minimize the hits and pressure on Justin Herbert, and Awosika gives them at least a slightly better outlook in that regard.
Kayode Awosika needs to represent an upgrade for the offensive line entering Week 9
It's not a good sign that Los Angeles is counting on the return of Awosika to help solidify their interior protection. The ideal scenario for this season, rather obviously, was that Tyler Biadasz's ability to hold down the center spot would free Slaughter up to claim the left guard spot for himself. With solid play across the rest of the line, the Chargers likely figured they could deal with some variance at one position.
But of course, things didn't go according to plan. Biadasz suffered a season-ending ACL injury in joint practice against the San Francisco 49ers, ricocheting Slaughter into the starting center spot and leaving Awosika with a clear path to claiming the left guard role. Having started 11 games over four seasons with the Detroit Lions, there was some experience there for Awosika—but not enough to feel fully confident in that development.
Awosika's sample size at the start of the season (just 48 pass-blocking snaps while rotating with Pipkins) isn't enough to make a true judgement on his viability in this scheme. For what it's worth, he ceded two pressures and zero sacks in that span. He went down with a leg injury in Week 2 that has forced him to the sidelines since.
But he has to be the best option on the Chargers' roster currently. If he's not, it's hard to see where they go from here.
Taylor wasn't nightmarish at the position, but he performed about as well as you could expect a sixth-round rookie to across three games as the starting left guard—allowing six pressures and two sacks on 140 pass-blocking snaps and showing inconsistent reps in the run game.
But with Joe Alt back in the fold (and erasing the penalty woes that defined the early part of his season), bringing in a healthy and viable Awosika could help solidify the left side of the Chargers' offensive line—at least relative to what we've seen over the past few weeks. As long as Pipkins is without a specified return date, there's almost nothing that could take the job away from Awosika. Considering the limited IR return designations the Chargers have over the remainder of the season, it may outright be his for the next 10 games.
Los Angeles will face off against the Houston Texans' formidable pass rush in Week 9. Herbert, again, has been one of the most-sacked quarterbacks in the league this season as he's struggled to acclimate to the new offensive scheme.
If the line can simply keep Herbert clean, that's a victory in and of itself—and the return of Awosika from the IR needs to be some sort of boon in that effort.
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