EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Rashawn Slater’s path to the very top of his position was rooted in and fueled by the work.
It never stopped.
Not when he was waking up at 6 a.m. on Saturdays as a sophomore in high school to train in the Houston heat.
Not when his family went on a cruise after his freshman year at Northwestern, and Slater was doing pass protection sets on the deck while other cruise-goers looked on in disbelief.
Not when he was drafted with the No. 13 pick in 2021. Not when he earned second-team All-Pro as a rookie. Not when he tore his bicep in 2022 and missed 14 games, including the Chargers’ first playoff appearance in four years.
Not when he became the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history.
And it won’t stop now. That can be guaranteed. Slater finds comfort in the work. Always has. Always will. Even as he faces this overwhelming challenge.
The unthinkable happened Thursday morning on the practice fields at The Bolt, the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice facility. Less than two weeks after signing a $114 million contract extension while surrounded by family, Slater tore his patellar tendon. He dropped into pass protection, a movement he has repeated thousands and thousands of times over his football life. He took a shove from edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu. He planted his left foot. His leg gave out.
Slater will undergo surgery and be placed on injured reserve. He will miss the 2025 season. What awaits is a recovery time of 10 to 12 months, according to Dr. Carlos Uquillas, an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a team physician for the Los Angeles Angels.
“A lot of people do return from this injury,” Uquillas said. “Sometimes not at the same level.”
The Chargers are familiar with this injury. Cornerback J.C. Jackson tore his patellar tendon in Week 7 of 2022, eight months after he signed an $82.5 million free-agent contract with the team. Jackson suffered the injury in November. He was back for Week 1 of the 2023 season. Jackson played two games before he was traded to the New England Patriots. He has been out of the league since the end of the 2023 season.
According to Uquillas, though, the recovery for “speed players” like receivers, running backs and defensive backs tends to be “a little harder” compared to linemen.
“For linemen,” Uquillas said, “I think it’s potentially a little bit easier.”
Cleveland Browns tackle Jack Conklin, for instance, tore his patellar tendon in late November 2021. He returned in Week 3 of 2022 and played more than 900 snaps over 14 starts.
So there is some hope for 2026.
In this coming season, the Chargers will have to find a way forward without a franchise cornerstone.
Rashawn Slater can return from his patellar tendon injury, but there’s no guarantee it’ll be at the same level. (Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)
What coach Jim Harbaugh has brought, more than anything, is hope. Hope that organizational demons will be vanquished once and for all. Hope for competence and sustained success and, yes, finally, a Chargers Super Bowl victory.
This feels gut-wrenchingly familiar for a team that has an incomprehensible injury history. One could practically see and hear the hope dissipating into the California sunshine Thursday morning. How Harbaugh navigates this will reveal what he is truly building, or not building, with the team.
The positive: The Chargers have a rising star in Joe Alt who can take over for Slater at left tackle.
Another positive: The situation could have been worse for Slater. He could have gotten hurt before he signed his deal.
After skipping organized team activities, Slater participated fully in three minicamp practices from June 10 to 12. He still had not signed his contract. Slater reported for camp on July 16. He participated in the first two training camp practices on July 17 and 18.
Slater avoided the worst-case scenario in these five practices. He now has the financial security that he deserved and earned. It is an important example of why players — especially elite players — should exercise all their leverage in contract negotiations. Such players can be labeled in negative ways. But NFL owners are doing everything they can, all the time, to maximize their profits. Players should be doing the same. Their bodies are their businesses. Protecting that business does not make a player a bad teammate. It is necessary.
According to Over the Cap, Slater was fully guaranteed $56 million at signing — his $29 million signing bonus plus his $27 million in base salary and roster bonuses over the next two seasons. If he is on the roster on March 15, 2026, his $26 million in 2027 base salary will become guaranteed.
Slater has set himself and his family up for life. He toiled in the work to make that happen.
“It doesn’t change anything,” Slater said a day after signing the deal. “I still got to wake up and give it my all every day.”
Slater will have to dig more deeply than he ever has in the months ahead. The patellar tendon attaches the knee to the shin and, thus, the quad muscle to the shin. Without the tendon, Uquillas said, “you have no ability to extend your knee.”
Atrophy will occur without movement.
“It takes just a really long time to build the bulk and that strength back up,” Uquillas said. “Left tackles, their quads are massive. So to get back to that level takes a ton of time and effort.”
Slater has drawn from a seemingly limitless pool of effort to make it here.
He has a ton. And quite a bit more.
“I’ve been an underdog all my life,” Slater said the day he was drafted in 2021. “I’ve always had that chip on my shoulder, trained with that chip on my shoulder and played with that chip on my shoulder. It’s not leaving because that’s just part of who I am now.”
(Top photo: Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
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