The Chargers LG competition is firmly underway after the pads came on during Tuesday's practice. The pads were fully on in today's practice as well. On Tuesday, HC Jim Harbaugh said he'd like to have a starter decided on within the "next 10" practices. OC Mike McDaniel echoed similar sentiments on Wednesday as far as whittling down the competition to 1-2 key candidates sooner rather than later.
During Tuesday's padded practice, Trey Pipkins started at LG. Kayode Awosika, who Harbaugh called the most consistent of the guards, also rotated in. On Wednesday's non-padded practice, Branson Taylor started. Then again on Thursday in full pads, Taylor got the nod again.
Branson Taylor might have a legitimate chance to start at left guard for the Chargers.
Notably today, there was no rotation for first-team left guard. Taylor got all the reps blocking for QB Justin Herbert's unit.
Second-round draft pick Jake Slaughter and OG Trevor Penning have not gotten reps at starting guard this week yet. Slaughter got the bulk of his starting reps during OTAs/minicamp while Penning briefly rotated in last week. But during the first pads week, Pipkins, Awosika, and Taylor were the first guys to get involved.
Now it's still far too early to call the race or eliminate candidates. Keep in mind that the Chargers will also have three preseason games full of reps for each of these players. But Slaughter not getting any serious first-team guard reps during the first two weeks has to be one of the stories here. And another one has to be Taylor earning three practices in which he's started at LG.
Even if Taylor doesn't win the starting job, being involved in this competition could do wonders for his chances to make the roster. When I made my 53-man roster prediction earlier in the week, Taylor didn't make the cut. But now I'd probably change my mind on that with the volume of first-team guard reps he's gotten. He also can be a swing guard/tackle option with some flexibility, similar to how the team views Pipkins. Taylor got second-team tackle work today separate from his first-team guard duties.
The Chargers will have more padded practices and most of their LG candidates will at least get a chance. But for Taylor, he's had the biggest stock up of any lineman on the roster to this point. Perhaps he's parlayed his Week 18 LG start against Denver into at least a solid chance of making the roster.
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