The Los Angeles Chargers finally have something resembling a return date for Rashawn Slater.
After the Pro Bowl left tackle missed his eighth consecutive practice, head coach Jim Harbaugh said Tuesday that Slater would work “off to the sides” and expects him back this weekend.
That timeline will keep Slater out of Thursday’s preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, but the Chargers are expected to give their starters some playing time in that game.
That is the clearest timetable the Chargers have offered since Slater experienced a flare-up in his surgically repaired left knee earlier this month.
The issue first surfaced when Slater left Los Angeles’ opening padded practice after early on in training camp during an 11-on-11 period. Slater returned for a lighter workout the following day, but has since been held out while the team takes a cautious approach with the same knee in which he tore his patellar tendon last summer.
Slater previously tried to calm concern over the setback, calling it a “little” flare-up and saying there was “nothing that’s concerning”.
“Coming back from a major injury, I think the smartest thing is being cautious,” Slater said last week.
Harbaugh’s update became even more welcome only hours later, when the Chargers suffered another potentially serious offensive line injury.
Starting center Tyler Biadasz was carted off during Tuesday’s joint practice with the 49ers after a defender fell on his leg during the team’s joint practice with the 49ers. Biadasz was unable to put weight on the injured leg before leaving the field, with no immediate word on the severity of the injury.
That makes getting Slater back all the more important.
Biadasz was one of the centerpiece additions in a broader effort to rebuild the Chargers’ offensive line and keep Justin Herbert upright after injuries wrecked the unit last season. Los Angeles lost Slater before the season and later Joe Alt, leaving Herbert to absorb 54 sacks while the Chargers cycled through 25 different offensive line combinations.
Trey Pipkins, Branson Taylor, Logan Taylor and Travis Burke have already received work at left tackle during Slater’s absence, while Los Angeles is simultaneously trying to settle its competition at left guard. If Biadasz misses time, second-round rookie Jake Slaughter could also be pressed into duty at center.
Slater’s importance is difficult to overstate. Across 1,339 career pass-blocking snaps, he has allowed pressure on just 2.4 percent of them, surrendering only nine sacks and 17 hurries.
Los Angeles still has little incentive to rush him through August. But after Biadasz became the latest starter to leave practice injured, seeing Slater move closer to a return suddenly carries considerably more weight.
The Chargers spent the offseason trying to ensure Herbert would not have to survive another season behind a makeshift offensive line.
Harbaugh’s latest update at least offers some hope that one major piece of that protection is finally headed in the right direction.