Jim Harbaugh all but confirms Chargers' worst fears about Tyler Biadasz

The Los Angeles Chargers, of course, were hoping to get through training camp and the preseason without suffering any major injuries. They made it through roughly two and a half weeks.

Tyler Biadasz went down with an apparent knee injury in joint practice against the San Francisco 49ers when Kayode Awosika threw his man down into Biadasz's lower body. He was taken off the field in a medical cart, and that was the first sign things might be seriously wrong.

Since then, we've gotten a national update from Dan Graziano that Biadasz's injury is expected to be long-term, and we've heard that Biadasz has "ACL damage" and is seeking alternative opinions before a final decision on his status can be made.

There was a sliver of hope there—especially if it meant Biadasz could avoid missing the entire season. But when asked for an update after Los Angeles' preseason matchup on Thursday, Jim Harbaugh's response was not inspiring in the least.

This doesn't come as a major surprise given the reporting around Biadasz's injury, but it does all but confirm the Chargers' worst fears. Biadasz seems like he'll be out for the season, and Los Angeles will need to quickly pivot their plans for the offensive line as a result.

Jim Harbaugh says that Tyler Biadasz's status is "not promising"

When Biadasz first suffered his injury, speculation naturally abounded. Perhaps there was a chance that he simply suffered an MCL sprain, which would put him out for about 4-6 weeks. But none of the reporting since that time has indicated that it's anything other than a season-ending ACL injury.

We won't know for certain until the Chargers put him on the season-ending IR. But it's time to start acclimating to life without Biadasz in the center of the offensive line.

Thankfully, Slaughter has looked promising in his reps at center during training camp. He was one of the best at the position in college last season, allowing just four pressures and one sack on 422 pass-blocking snaps per Pro Football Focus.

He has the exact type of athleticism and physicality that Mike McDaniel is clearly looking for in the Chargers' new blocking scheme, and that's part of the reason the Chargers drafted him in the first place.

But Slaughter has split time between center and left guard essentially since the start of camp, while Justin Herbert has taken reps almost exclusively with Biadasz. It will be a tall task for them to find some kind of working relationship between now and the start of the season, and it's a lot to ask of a rookie to pivot their focus that quickly.

But it seems as though the Chargers are prepared for the worst, and Harbaugh's comments only serve to further prove that.

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