Bolts From The Blue
The Chargers’ left tackle was at minicamp as a full participant after missing OTAs up to this point.
After missing all of the Chargers’ OTA sessions prior to this week, left tackle Rashawn Slater was not only in attendance for Tuesday’s start to mandatory minicamp, he was also a full participant throughout the entire day.
Slater sitting out OTAs for the first time in his career was unsurprising given that the former first-round pick is currently in the midst of negotiating a new contract. This will be the final year of Slater’s rookie deal as he’s expected to earn $19.2 million in year five.
While missing OTAs, Slater remained in Dallas, Texas where he trains with vaunted offensive line guru Dule Manyweather, per The Athletic’s Daniel Popper. Jim Harbaugh told reporters following Tuesday’s practice that Slater arrived in “great shape” and that he passed his conditioning test with flying colors. Per Harbaugh, Slater called the conditioning test “too easy.”
With Slater in attendance sans a new deal being done just yet, it’s incredibly reassuring that things may be in a great place between both sides as they head towards finding that common ground on a contract. The Chargers offensive line is fortunately not falling behind at this point in the offseason as they continue to try and find that best starting five as early as possible.
Seeing as the group did not receive as much of an overhaul as many believed was needed, any additional time to drill, drill, drill themselves into an uber-cohesive unit is a welcomed sight.
