The LA Chargers have several star players on the roster that most casual NFL fans know about. Perhaps the most under-the-radar superstar on the Chargers is Rashawn Slater, who has been elite since he stepped foot on an NFL field.
Taken with the 13th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Slater was a Second Team All-Pro in his rookie season and genuinely was one of the best tackles in the sport. The sky is the limit for Slater at such a young age as he is now the foundational cornerstone of the Chargers' offensive line.
Yet for reasons that are unknown (perhaps because he was injured for most of last season), Slater hasn't received nearly as much credit as he deserves. That is more than evident with the Madden 24 ratings, which have dropped this week and notably subbed Slater. Slater didn't just miss the cut as a top-10 offensive lineman, he didn't even make it as a top-20 offensive lineman!
There's depth at the position 💯 #Madden24 pic.twitter.com/xnmHj6p6GU
— Madden NFL 24 (@EAMaddenNFL) July 19, 2023
Chargers' Rashawn Slater gets criminally snubbed with Madden 24 rating
To find out what Rashawn Slater's rating was we had to hop over to the Madden 24 website and scroll through the list of left tackles. It took much more scrolling than it should have as the folks over at EA have given Slater an 85 overall rating heading into the 2023 season.
This has to be influenced by him missing almost all of last season because there is no world in which Slater should only be an 85, especially when you compare him to his peers at the position. There are 10 left tackles with a better rating than Slater, who is tied for the 11th-highest rating with Minnesota's Christian Darrisaw. Darrisaw isn't even a Pro Bowler and has not played at the elite level that Slater has played at.
Zero-time Pro Bowler Kolton Miller was given an 87 rating. Miller is solid, but he is definitely not better than Slater. Jordan Mailata also received an 87 rating despite also being a zero-time Pro Bowler and not having the same ceiling as Slater.
So it has to be about the injuries, right? Well, even that is unclear because Tyron Smith was given an 89 rating a year after he played just four games for the Dallas Cowboys. Smith has a stellar resume but is past his prime and has played only 17 games in the last three years combined. In 2021, where Smith played 11 games and was a Pro Bowler, Slater was better.
Ronnie Stanley was given a 90 rating after playing 11 games in 2022 with 18 combined games in the last three seasons. He has not been a Pro Bowler since 2019. His 2019 season was elite but was a true outlier compared to the rest of his career.
Heck, even David Bakhtiari was given a 90 overall rating after playing just 11 games last season and playing 12 combined games the last two years. His last All-Pro nod was at least more recent as it came in 2020.
Talent-wise you could make the case that Slater deserves to be No. 2 or 3 on this list but that was never going to happen after just two years in the league (one of which he was hurt for). But Slater absolutely should not rank as far as he is behind this selection of tackles. Slater should be firmly in the 90s and should be among the best left tackles in the game because he is in real life.