The offensive line was a disastrous experience for the Chargers last season. 32nd in pass block win rate. 31st in run block win rate. Justin Herbert was pressured 288 times on dropbacks, a mark good enough for the highest figure in the league. In the regular season, Herbert was the second most sacked quarterback in the NFL to only Geno Smith. Any offensive line statistic from last year makes it sound miraculous that the Chargers even managed to the make the playoffs.
No Rashawn Slater. They team had just six games of Joe Alt before he also suffered a season-ending injury. The Mekhi Becton signing at right guard was a complete bust and C Bradley Bozeman retired this offseason after a swift decline in performance. Zion Johnson had an OK season, but it was truthfully underwhelming when examined under first-round pick standards.
The Chargers completely blew up their interior offensive line this offseason. Let's see what the 2026 group is looking like.
The Chargers offensive line should be better on paper than in the disastrous 2025 season. But the exact ceiling remains a question mark.
LT: Rashawn Slater
Rashawn Slater returns after rupturing his patellar tendon last August. The expectation is that Slater and Alt will both participate in training camp. At the beginning of June, Slater said that he expected to be medically cleared within "a few weeks". Barring another setback, the Northwestern product is fully on track to return to his first real game action in 611 days when he starts vs. Arizona.
Slater will be there. But a different question is what can be expected out of Slater performance wise? Will he be back to 100%? Kansas City tackle Josh Simmons started for the Chiefs in Week 1 last year after suffering the same injury in October of 2024. He largely returned to the same quality he demonstrated at Ohio State pre-injury.
That's not a guarantee that Slater will immediately return to a Pro Bowl level. But the recent timelines for returning to football following a severe knee injury have been much better than they were 10-20 years ago.
At the end of the day, Slater's last campaign we watched was a Pro Bowl season in which he allowed just three sacks. Until there is visible decline as a result of the patellar tendon injury or rehab, it feels overly harsh to predict he'll have a steep fall off. If the Chargers get at least 13-14 games out of Slater, their floor for the offensive line will be much higher than it was last season.
Grade: A-
LG: Jake Slaughter
Note: no one has won the left guard competition yet. But I'd be surprised if Jake Slaughter didn't get the starting job. He already split first-team reps with Kayode Awosika at left guard in the first leg of the Chargers' offseason process following the draft. Ultimately, the Chargers invested a second-round pick into Slaughter.
The big question is whether Slaughter is playable at guard in the NFL from day one. And the answer for me is TBD. Slaughter never played the position in college. He played just two guard reps at the Senior Bowl that he got beat pretty decisively on.
But the coaching staff and front office both have faith in him. He was Joe Hortiz's "blue star" prospect in this draft. OL coach Butch Barry believes that Slaughter's transition from center to guard will be easier than if he was doing it the other way around.
The tricky part about a guard evaluation is that Slaughter doesn't have overwhelming size or traits. His athleticism will give him a chance in a Mike McDaniel offense. Playing next to Slater and Tyler Biadasz will help as well. But raw power from bigger defensive tackles against his frame was something he struggled with in college. I'm a TBD on ability to impact year one in a positive fashion.
Grade: New rookie, N/A
C: Tyler Biadasz
Tyler Biadasz was probably not the flashy name that some fans expected in free agency. Tyler Linderbaum for a while was seen as the belle of the ball before he signed with the Raiders. But the Chargers very quickly got out of the center market once they signed Biadasz following his release from the Commanders. Hortiz likely saw the market explosion on Linderbaum coming.
Linederbaum is likely considered better in NFL personnel league circles, but $17 million per year better than Biadasz? I'm not so sure. Biadasz had a PBE of 97.7 to Linderbaums 92.2 last year. The former Commander center allowed 1.2% fewer pressures per pass block snap than Linderbaum last season.
This isn't to necessarily sell you on the idea that Biadasz is this elite center. But Hortiz played the market fairly well relative to expectations and got a clear upgrade over Bradley Bozeman. Bozeman allowed 15 more pressures than Biadasz last season with a PFF run blocking grade over 20 points lower. At the very least, he is a solid upgrade in baseline competency over what the Chargers had over the last two years. And that might be understating it.
Grade: B
RG: Cole Strange
Cole Strange was brought over from Miami as a key cog that knows Mike McDaniel's system. To his credit, he performed better in the latter stage of the 2025 season as he was further removed from his previous patellar tendon injury. McDaniel's hopes are that his general trend upwards continues and that he at least has a relatively OK floor.
But despite the better tape towards the end of the year as opposed to the beginning, the numbers were still not good. He had the 4th lowest PFF pass blocking grade (34.1 out of true pass sets) amongst all guards with 400+ pass blocking snaps in 2025. His pressure numbers were largely in line with his other seasons at 21 allowed in 2025. His pass blocking efficiency in true pass sets in 2025 was just 0.1 points higher than his rookie year in New England (94.2-94.1).
Again, it's worth noting he played better towards the end of the season and didn't allow more than two pressures in a game after Week 8. But we have yet to see a full season of a body of work from Strange that makes the Chargers' plan here seem like a slam dunk. How he holds up with physicality in pass pro is still a major question mark for me.
Grade: C-
RT: Joe Alt
Joe Alt played just six games last year, but his presence was felt. The Chargers were statistically a top five offense when he and Herbert shared the field. His impact was enough to make a Pro Bowl despite the missed time.
Despite flipping to left tackle on the other side of the line without Slater playing, basically all of Alt's numbers improved from year to year. He had a higher pass blocking efficiency and lower pressures allowed per pass blocking snap.
The ceiling remains insanely high for Alt if he stays healthy. ESPN ranked him as a top 10 tackle this year in Jeremy Fowler's annual poll and it feels like he'll be much higher on that list by this time next year.
Grade: A
The depth: Trey Pipkins III, Trevor Penning, Kayode Awosika, Travis Burke, Logan Taylor
The Chargers' depth is...fine. They at least invested draft picks and UDFA resources towards finding guys that can fill the pipeline in future years. I was particularly high on Travis Burke's film for the future even if Trey Pipkins probably is swing T/G at the current moment.
Pipkins is solid when he's playing healthy in relief, but he's dealt with lingering knee issues in recent years that have prevented him from being at his best. Penning and Awosika are fine enough backups. Rookie Logan Taylor could be a quick climber up the depth chart as the offseason continues.
Practice squad competition: Isaiah World, Jacob Spomer, Alex Harkey, Laekin Vakalahi, Ben Cleveland, Branson Taylor
Isaiah World strikes me as an IR stash similar to Rutgers CB Eric Rogers last preseason. World tore his ACL in the College Football Playoff and didn't have surgery until February. It's certainly worth noting that World got the highest guarantee figure of any Chargers UDFA at $515k.
Ben Cleveland and Branson Taylor could fight for the main roster in theory, but they strike me as more fitting in the practice squad tier barring a leap from Taylor.
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