Considering whether or not it is concerning that the Los Angeles Chargers have not yet named a starter at left guard.
The Los Angeles Chargers are set for their season opener against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and have most position battles already decided, but there is one competition still going on which could be cause for concern.
That position battle is for the starting left guard position, which is quite interesting because head coach Jim Harbaugh, offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, and the Chargers need to find a way to protect quarterback Justin Herbert better than they did a season ago, and with no starter named just yet, that may worry Chargers fans.
So, with that in mind, there is one question that arises. Is it concerning that the Chargers have not named a starter at left guard?
At this point, there is no way to know if this will be a consistent problem for Los Angeles this season because this team has not played a regular-season game yet, but it is definitely worth monitoring.
Throughout training camp and the preseason, the left guard battle has seen several players enter it, with Kayode Awosika, rookie Jake Slaughter, Branson Taylor, and Trey Pipkins III being the main ones.
As the competition has progressed, the battle has changed a bit, with one of the more notable changes being Slaughter leaving the competition to become the starting center because Tyler Biadasz went down and has been ruled out for the season with significant damage done to his ACL.
Additionally, Taylor has been placed on IR due to an upper body injury so as a he result he must sit out at least the first four games and because Taylor was placed on IR it seems that he has essentially been removed from the competition to start at left guard and will most likely serve as depth on the interior of the offensive line.
So, that now leaves Awosika and Pipkins to truly compete for the starting job at left guard as the regular season gets closer.
Last week, Harbaugh said the battle was still ongoing between Awosika and Pipkins and that there was nothing stopping the Chargers from playing both of them which would be a very interesting approach as an offensive line is very much based on continuity and if Harbaugh chose to play both of them that would be very hard to create consistency up front.
Against the Cardinals on Sunday, the Chargers may have a tough task as on the interior Arizona has Walter Nolan III and Roy Lopez, so it will be interesting to see who trots out there first for Los Angeles and whether or not there is a rotation at left guard.
Throughout camp, Awosika has been the favorite to win the job, but with him not being named the starter, it is something to monitor. Since Awosika has not won the job just yet, it is worth wondering where Pipkins stands at this point.
So, heading into Week 1 against the Cardinals, it is likely that Awosika starts the game for the Chargers, but it will be interesting to see how he performs and if Pipkins comes in at all in a rotational role at left guard, and if Pipkins does come in that will clarify that this battle is not yet over and is something that Los Angeles must decide as soon as possible.
