Rashawn Slater Updates After Injury Scare at Chargers Training Camp

In what has been an overwhelmingly positive stretch of events so far, one big negative and area of concern for the Los Angeles Chargers was fear of another Rashawn Slater injury.

Ahead of schedule earlier this summer on the comeback from his torn patellar tendon during last year’s training camp, Slater exited a practice last week in San Diego with what appeared to be a setback before not working the rest of that day.

Slater’s usage since has been up and down, with the team clearly taking it easy and most comments from head coach Jim Harbaugh and otherwise painting a positive picture.

Here’s a quick rundown of the latest on Slater, including comments and usage during camp from over the weekend.

Rashawn Slater injury updates

Los Angeles Chargers offensive tackle Rashawn Slater — Rashawn Slater | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The first Slater concern popped up on August 4 when he needed to go to the medical tent with a trainer after some work in 11-on-11 drills. He didn’t get back in the action, but post-practice footage appeared to show him doing some typical work after the practice itself.

Still, speculation and understandable concern popped up.

Slater’s usage has varied since, with Harbaugh and the Chargers giving him a rest day on Saturday and Sunday.

"Just a ramp up," Harbaugh said, according to Eric Smith of Chargers.com. "He's right on schedule, going by the book and what the doctors and trainers have laid out…Cleared ... continuing to go up."

Harbaugh wouldn’t say what caused the trip to the medical tent during the sessions in San Diego, but stressed that things are still on track for the star offensive tackle in terms of pacing ahead of the regular season.

While Slater was out on Saturday, Trey Pipkins took most of the left tackle work. That’s his usual swing-backup role, though he had been prominent in the big rotation for the starting left guard job before this.

Call it a possible preview of what’s next for the Chargers at this point. Pipkins was in the mix at left guard, but the injury concerns for Slater pretty much guaranteed that he wouldn’t actually win out that job.

Said left guard job is more likely to go to rookie Jake Slaughter, as planned, or sudden training camp breakout Branson Taylor.

As for Slater, the expectation is that the team will continue to carefully monitor his usage during camp ahead of the regular season. Whether he gets preseason work at all remains to be seen.

Last year, though, showed how bad things could get for the offense once Slater and fellow starting tackle Joe Alt left the lineup for the season due to injuries. In 2026, even the hyped arrival of offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel wouldn’t likely be able to withstand those levels of losses, so Slater going super slow the rest of the way wouldn’t be a shock.

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