Chargers LT Rashawn Slater to miss 2025 season after tearing patellar tendon – The New York Times

NFL
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers star left tackle Rashawn Slater will miss the 2025 season after tearing a patellar tendon during practice, the team announced Thursday.
Rashawn Slater sustained a torn patellar tendon in today’s practice and will undergo surgery to repair the injury.
He will miss the 2025 season and be placed on Injured Reserve.
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 7, 2025

Slater, who became he highest-paid offensive linemen in NFL history on July 27 when he signed a four-year, $114 million contract extension, was aligned at left tackle on the play. It was a modified team-drill period, with only three offensive linemen and two defensive linemen on the field.
Andre James was at center. Zion Johnson was at left guard. Teair Tart was on the defensive interior, and Tuli Tuipulotu was at edge rusher across from Slater.
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Quarterback Justin Herbert took the snap. Slater dropped into a pass protection stance. Tuipulotu bull-rushed Slater. As Slater tried to absorb Tuipulotu’s initial strike, he planted his left foot. Slater’s left leg gave out and he fell backward onto the turf, immediately grabbing his left knee.
Trainers rushed out to Slater. Moments later, he was helped onto a cart as several teammates crowded around, hugging their left tackle and consoling him with handshakes.
“That’s just something you don’t want to see,” Tuipulotu said.
As the cart reached the sideline and turned left toward the entrance to the facility, Slater threw his helmet onto the turf. The cart came to a stop. Slater smashed his hand onto the cart, the sound reverberating around the practice fields. The crowd was hushed as practice continued. Slater buried his head in his hands and a trainer draped a towel over his head. Then two trainers helped Slater off the cart and into the facility. He could not put any weight on his left leg.
“I didn’t really see nothing,” Tuipulotu said of the play after practice. “I kind of just turned around, and then, boom. We’re praying for him. We hope he’s doing well, and, man, everybody’s behind his back, everybody’s got him. Wishing for the best.”
For the remainder of practice, right tackle Joe Alt moved to left tackle with the starting offense, and Trey Pipkins III entered at right tackle. That will likely be how the Chargers configure their offensive line moving forward this season.
Alt and Slater represented one of the true strengths of this Chargers roster. As offensive coordinator Greg Roman said earlier this training camp, “A lot of people would probably say we have the best tackle combo in the league.” It was hard to argue with that sentiment.
Slater had already proven himself as one of the game’s best tackles, as evidenced by his contract. And Alt had an outstanding rookie season.
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“Watch what he does this year,” Roman said of Alt. “He’s on his way to being a special, special player.”
Now the complexion of the offensive line — and the offense as a whole — changes dramatically.
If there is good news, it’s that Alt has considerable experience at left tackle. Few, if any, teams have the luxury of replacing an All-Pro with a future All-Pro at this most pivotal position.
Alt started 33 games at left tackle in college at Notre Dame, not to mention a game last season in Week 18 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Slater felt some knee discomfort during warmups of that game. Alt found out he was switching to left tackle about 90 minutes before opening kickoff. He still had one of his best games of the season and did not allow a pressure in 41 pass-blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
Alt continued to work at left tackle during this year’s training camp. Slater participated in the first two practices of camp but sat out eight consecutive practices from July 19-26 while in the middle of contract negotiations. He was also dealing with a blister on his foot that had first appeared during his offseason workouts in Dallas. Slater received treatment on that blister when he reported for camp with the Chargers on July 16. He initially tried to practice through it, but ultimately sat out to let the wound heal.
When Slater was out, Alt worked at left tackle, and Pipkins worked at right tackle.
“I look at that as an opportunity to get Joe reps on the left side,” Roman said of Alt at left tackle on July 19. “We definitely want to keep him frosty there on the left side. Keep him working intermittently just so he gets reps and muscle memory and whatnot, communication, all that stuff.”
Those left tackle reps will now be even more valuable.
Pipkins, too, has experience at his new projected starting position. A third-round pick in 2019, Pipkins has played nearly 3,000 regular-season snaps at right tackle.
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Pipkins signed a three-year extension in the 2023 offseason to return as the Chargers’ starting right tackle. After that 2023 season, the Chargers cleaned house and hired coach Jim Harbaugh and GM Joe Hortiz. The Chargers drafted Alt at No. 5 overall, and they moved Pipkins to guard. Pipkins had never played inside before, but he started 15 games at right guard in 2024. Ahead of this season, the Chargers signed Mekhi Becton in free agency to be their starting right guard. Pipkins, who is due $6.75 million in base salary this season, fit into the offensive line room as the Chargers’ swing tackle.
Pipkins did not have any guaranteed money left on his deal. The Chargers could have cut him to save cap space. But they kept him on the roster for depth and experience. That is looking like a very smart decision after Slater’s injury.
Harbaugh announced earlier this week that the Chargers expect Johnson to start at left guard and Bradley Bozeman to start at center. Those are the same starters as last season, when the Chargers’ interior struggled. The Chargers had experimented with Johnson at center, but that attempt failed. The thought process for improvement on the offensive line came down to this: The best tackle duo in the league creates a floor while Becton raises the interior.
Becton has not practiced since July 28, and the Chargers have not provided any firm update on what Becton is managing. Harbaugh said the issue is in the “not-severe category.” When asked if Becton was injured in practice, Harbaugh replied, “It’s something he’s working through.” Bozeman also did not practice on Thursday.
After Thursday’s practice ended, all the key Chargers decision-makers huddled together on the practice fields: Harbaugh, Hortiz, president of football operations John Spanos, assistant general manager Chad Alexander, vice president of football administration/player finance Ed McGuire and director of player health, wellness and performance Marco Zucconi.
Their facial expressions and the general mood could be described in one word: somber.
“We definitely have the ingredients,” Roman said in July. “Full transparency, we got to stay healthy, like every other team in the NFL.”
It is Aug. 7, and that goal has disappeared already.
(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
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Daniel Popper is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Los Angeles Chargers. He previously covered the Jacksonville Jaguars for The Athletic after following the New York Jets for the New York Daily News, where he spent three years writing, reporting and podcasting about local pro sports. Follow Daniel on Twitter @danielrpopper

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