Rashawn Slater averts disaster, keeps Chargers season on rails

SAN DIEGO — Rashawn Slater was back on the field Wednesday as the Chargers held their second training camp practice in their former home city, and the collective sigh of relief stretched from Coronado Beach to Los Angeles.Disaster averted.Crisis avoided.

Everyone could exhale.For now.Slater sent a jolt through the organization a day earlier when he retreated to the medical tent with an undisclosed injury during an 11-on-11 period.Though he returned a short while later, he spent the rest of practice watching from the sideline.To say hearts were in throats would be an understatement.

The memory of last year’s ruptured left patellar tendon injury, and an entire season spent navigating life without him, remains fresh.So when Slater walked off Tuesday, you could feel the panic ripple through everyone from the locker room to the stands.“Here we go again” was the polite version.

The unfiltered reaction ranged from disbelief to outright anger at the football gods.All of it justified.There are countless variables that will determine the Chargers’ fate this season, from the obvious to the subtle.But one reality stands above the rest: They need their left tackle on the field.

And just as importantly, they need his right-side counterpart, Joe Alt, there with him.Between Slater’s injury and the high ankle sprain that limited Alt to just six games, the Chargers never once fielded what many believe is the NFL’s best tackle tandem.The consequences showed up everywhere.The run game suffered.The pocket collapsed far too often.

And quarterback Justin Herbert paid the price, absorbing a staggering 54 sacks.An offense that ranked 11th in scoring in 2024 (23.6 points per game) slipped to 20th in 2025 at 20.6.The season ended the way it too often felt, with Herbert getting dropped six times in a 16-3 playoff loss to the Patriots.You don’t need to be Bill Walsh to connect the dots.Without Slater and Alt, everything else becomes exponentially harder.

With them, everyth...