The Los Angeles Chargers have lost their most important offensive lineman for the season.
Offensive tackle Rashawn Slater suffered a leg injury and had to be carted off of the field during the Chargers’ training camp practice on Aug. 7.
The team confirmed it was a torn patellar tendon and Slater will be out for the season.
Slater was taking part in a version of an 11-on-11 drill and dropped into his pass protection set when another player fell on his left leg. Trainers checked on him for a couple of minutes after he went down before eventually calling for the cart.
Slater was unable to put any weight on his left leg as trainers helped him off of the cart and into the Chargers’ team facility, reports said.
Slater became the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL by average annual value when he signed a four-year, $114 million contract extension to stay in Los Angeles. The former first-round pick out of Northwestern had just come off of his second Pro Bowl season and was about to enter the fifth-year option season of his rookie contract in 2025.
Previously, Slater’s worst injury a ruptured biceps tendon he suffered in Week 3 of the 2022 season, which ended his year early. Outside of those 14 missed games, Slater has only sat out three others.
The left tackle played all but two games for the Chargers last season, missing a Week 4 game with a pectoral strain then the team’s Week 18 finale when he felt knee discomfort during pregame stretches. His lone other missed start unrelated to the ruptured tendon was due to an illness during his rookie season in 2021.
Chargers OT depth chart
The Chargers have three backup tackles on their unofficial depth chart behind Slater: one swing tackle, a left tackle and a right tackle.
Here’s how the offensive tackle spot looks on Los Angeles’s unofficial depth chart before they face the New Orleans Saints in a Sunday afternoon preseason game (asterisks [*] denote starters):
- LT Rashawn Slater*
- RT Joe Alt*
- LT/RT Trey Pipkins III
- LT Ryan Nelson
- RT Corey Stewart
According to the Chargers’ website, the backups on the unofficial depth chart are listed in the order they appear. That means Pipkins is the likely starter at left tackle in place of Slater if necessary.