Things don't look good for the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos.
The offense as a whole has struggled immensely to find any momentum to this point in the season. In fact, the most productive stretch of play we've seen from Justin Herbert was late in the second half last week against the Seattle Seahawks, when his protection broke down and he was forced to play out of system against a swarming Seattle defense. What does that say about Mike McDaniel's scheme? It may be too small a sample size to make any sweeping judgements, but I'll leave that up to the reader.
In an immediate sense, though, Los Angeles needs to figure out a way to overcome their lack of protection this week against Denver. With Rashawn Slater on IR and Joe Alt, Trevor Penning, Trey Pipkins III and Kayode Awosika all projected to miss this game, the Chargers will likely have four rookies starting on their offensive line. With the way the protection has looked this season even with the line's health mostly intact, it would be reasonable to write this game off for Los Angeles before it's even begun.
Travis Burke and Logan Taylor will likely start at the two tackle spots, while Jake Slaughter will slide over to left guard and UDFA Jacob Spomer will slot in at center, assuming Branson Taylor isn't ready to return from the shoulder injury he suffered in the preseason. Cole Strange will start at right guard.
Almost none of these pieces provide much reason for optimism on the Chargers' part. But perhaps Spomer, who was one of the most productive centers in the entire NFL in the preseason, can provide at least a glimmer of hope.
Jacob Spomer performed well in the preseason—but will it matter in this Week 5 matchup?
If the Chargers have any hope of winning this game, it's not going to come from the offensive line. This defense is going to need to absolutely stifle the Broncos' struggling offense, keeping the game close until the fourth quarter and hoping for another miraculous set of drives from Herbert.
But there's going to need to be some surprising performances along the line if Herbert is even going to reach that point in the game intact. Perhaps Slaughter can hold his own at left guard—he was certainly in the mix to start there before Tyler Biadasz went down for the season with an ACL injury. Perhaps Travis Burke, who we've seen put up some inspiring reps so far into his rookie campaign, can function as a replacement-level tackle, especially in pass protection.
If the interior of the line is dead in the water, though, this offense will have little chance to establish itself on the ground—a key piece of finding any momentum whatsoever in this game. That's where Spomer comes in.
Spomer, a UDFA out of Fresno State, was a pleasant surprise in training camp for the Chargers. It wasn't clear, even on the final day of roster cuts, whether Los Angeles would be willing to carry a backup center onto the main roster. Especially if Biadasz was healthy, it doesn't feel likely that Spomer would even be in this position. But he certainly earned it with his performance across Los Angeles' three preseason games.
In those outings, he allowed zero pressures and zero sacks across 78 pass-blocking snaps, and he managed to post a run-blocking grade of 65.0 or higher in two of the three matchups.
Obviously, there's a steep rise in the level of competition between the preseason and a regular-season matchup against the Broncos' interior defensive line. Zach Allen has posted 19 pressures this season across four games. DJ Jones, Denver's nose tackle, has been less effective, but he's still managed to put up five pressures in that same span.
Denver, though, has struggled to stop the run this season—it has the sixth-worst mark in the league in terms of rushing yards per attempt. If a combination of Spomer, Slaughter, and Strange on the interior can find a way to carve out room for the run game, especially when McDaniel chooses to send Hampton up the middle, the Chargers' chances in this game will immediately look better. If they can hold their own in pass protection, that statement rings even truer.
Better chances and an actual shot at winning this game are separate things entirely. But Spomer's preseason performance, at the very least, provides room for some tepid optimism heading into this matchup.
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