Chargers Injuries Save Jim Harbaugh From More Silly Mistakes vs. Raiders

The Chargers can't get out of their own way. Injuries, somehow, have decided to help out.

Jim Harbaugh | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

At times, it has been tough to watch Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers attempt to navigate a bad guard situation. 

That’s an evergreen statement fans have been able to say for years now. But it was especially tough this year when the Chargers topped the NFL in free cap space at one point and had an army of draft picks to attack the spot while Mike McDaniel arrived to install his scheme.

But here we are in Week 2 with the Chargers fighting the injury bug and still involving names like Trey Pipkins as a starting guard…next to a rookie center…who lines up next to a free-agent arrival at the other guard spot. 

Injuries or not, the Chargers’ guard spot continues to be a mess before they take on the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2. 

Chargers injuries hit Justin Herbert’s offensive line

Justin Herbert | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Chargers entered training camp with roughly five names involved in the battle for the starting guard position. 

Harbaugh, McDaniel and the Chargers then entered the season opener running a “rotation” at left guard, involving names like Pipkins and Kayode Awosika. 

Going into Week 2, according to ESPN’s Kris Rhim, Harbaugh will no longer run the “rotation” at left guard against the Raiders. 

…But only because Pipkins is out with an injury. 

It’s all as bad as it sounds. It’s pretty well agreed-upon that running a rotation along an offensive line can spoil the chemistry of an entire unit. And doing so for Pipkins, who couldn’t win the backup swing tackle job after rookie additions this offseason, was a bit of a head-scratcher for the Chargers. 

Sure, we can say the injury to center Tyler Biadasz spoiled things. But even if Biadasz were healthy, the Chargers would be starting rookie Jake Slaughter at left guard, despite his status as a college center. 

In the aftermath of the Biadasz injury, the Chargers are left with a backup swing tackle, a journeyman free agent they don’t feel confident enough to fully start and a former practice-squad player with Branson Taylor, who is currently on injured reserve. 

Maybe Awosika impresses against the Raiders. But this feels like a one-week break: What happens when Pipkins is healthy and Taylor is back off IR? It all loops back to the justified criticism the Chargers took for how they spent the offseason. 

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