Chargers LT Rashawn Slater is seemingly coming along well in his injury recovery. Last August, Slater ruptured his patellar tendon at practice soon after signing a contract extension. As a result, the Bolts’ star tackle has not played in a game since the 2024-25 playoff loss to Houston.
Per HC Jim Harbaugh, both RT Joe Alt and LT Rashawn Slater are coming along well in their respective rehab processes. On Slater specifically, Harbaugh had this to say:
”I’ve seen Rashawn [Slater],” Harbaugh started. “Rashawn’s been in quite a bit. Some of the goals he set when he first got injured to where he wanted to be right now, he’s above those. And I saw him running running. Looking out the window, saw that. And that warmed my heart. That was good to see.”
Slater will be massive for what the Chargers want to accomplish this season
Harbaugh’s quote infers that Slater has been working out at The Bolt’s practice facility specifically. In previous offseasons, Slater has trained in places like Dallas with noted OL guru Duke Manyweather. He will likely still do some work with OL Masterminds this offseason, but it’s a good sign that Slater has been present at the team practice facility at this stage.
Mike McDaniel spoke about the vision of having Alt and Slater at tackle for the Chargers this year in his introductory press conference.
"I think you need good tackles just to set the depth of the pocket, just in general,” McDaniel said. “There's no quicker way to find your looseness in protection than when quarterbacks have to step up super early. I think the two athletes we have allow for us to do some creative things in the run game that they are typically only able to do when you have certain types of athletes that can stay on the line of scrimmage and can pass pro in an upright position but then can go running down the field and block in space. I think guys that are able to block in space are rare. When they're tied with guys who are able to block the edge of the pocket, those combinations allow you to do all sorts of things from a blocking pattern standpoint as well as executing whatever launch point you need to."
If Slater and Alt are both able to be at 100% for Week 1 of the 2026 season, it would obviously be a huge boost for the Chargers’ offense. We’re a long ways away from that being confirmed for September. But this Slater update from Harbaugh is more promising relative to where he was expected to be in his recovery process by now.