Chargers Camp — Aug 31: Eleven Linemen and No Punter

The Los Angeles Chargers built their 53-man roster around the offensive line and let a punter go to do it. The initial roster keeps 11 offensive linemen — sixth-round rookies Alex Harkey and Logan Taylor and undrafted rookie Jacob Spomer and Travis Burke among them — behind rookie starting center Jake Slaughter, per Gavino Borquez at Chargers Wire and the team's initial-53 page, and it does not include a punter: JK Scott, the four-year incumbent, was released Sunday, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk. The mechanics there are ordinary. Scott is a vested veteran, so he isn't subject to waivers, and Borquez reports the release as procedural roster juggling, with the expectation that Scott re-signs once another move frees the spot. Nothing is signed until it is.

The Sunday ledger, announced by the team's communications staff on its website: Scott and running back Jaret Patterson released, 28 players waived, fullback and defensive lineman Scott Matlock and lineman Branson Taylor to injured reserve with return designations, and tackle Isaiah World to the reserve/non-football injury list. General manager Joe Hortiz also turned two bubble undrafted players into draft capital rather than losing them free, per Borquez: defensive tackle TeRah Edwards went to the Panthers for a 2028 sixth-round pick — a deal Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported first, per Myles Simmons at Pro Football Talk — and cornerback Avery Smith went to the Seahawks for a 2027 sixth-round pick, contingent on a physical, per Omar Navarro at the team's website. The quarterback room resolved the way camp had leaned: Trey Lance won the backup job — Borquez cites his fit in Mike McDaniel's scheme and his contract worth up to $6.75 million — and DJ Uiagalelei was waived. And outside linebacker Kyle Kennard, a 2025 fourth-round pick, went out as waived/injured, a cut Nate Gosney at Sports Illustrated's Chargers site treated as a surprise and attributed to limited playing time and a preseason injury.

11 days ago, one of our last episode's bright spots from the 49ers game was Junior Colson stepping in front of a pass and taking it 16 yards for his first professional touchdown. On Sunday the Chargers waived him. Colson was the team's 2024 third-round pick, No. 69 overall, out of Michigan, and his 2025 season was lost to a shoulder injury, per Ricardo Sandoval at Chargers Wire. The last inside linebacker spot went instead to Marlowe Wax, an undrafted linebacker from Syracuse, on special-teams value and disruptive preseason play, per Gosney — who framed the decision as Jim Harbaugh's open-competition talk applied to his own former Michigan player. Wax wasn't the only undrafted winner, either: cornerback Rodney Shelley took the fifth cornerback spot on the strength of his preseason play, per Borquez.

Our last episode left three questions open, and all three came back answered. Rashawn Slater first: we had relayed Ryan Anderson's reporting that the plan for the left tackle was the opener first, preseason never. That plan changed. Slater took his usual first-team left tackle spot for the final practice of camp on Tuesday, lining up with Slaughter, Cole Strange and Joe Alt, per Eric Smith at the team's website, and Harbaugh said before the finale that every starter except Derwin James and Khalil Mack would play against the Rams, per G.C. Bellchamber at Boltbeat. Left guard, the one position Harbaugh had declined to call settled: it's Awosika, whom the team's initial-53 page describes as having seemingly won the job in camp, per Smith. Mike McDaniel had tipped it the day before — "I think the No. 74 might stick," the offensive coordinator said of Awosika, while Awosika and Trey Pipkins III were still splitting reps. And the interior-depth question behind the rookie center got the 11-linemen answer above, with the worst case underneath it now official: Tyler Biadasz is on season-ending injured reserve, the team's initial-53 page listing the August 18 knee injury — a torn anterior cruciate ligament — as ending his year, per Smith.

The finale, briefly: Rams 20, Chargers 18 at SoFi Stadium on Thursday, with the starters playing two series apiece, per Smith's recap. Justin Herbert's night was four plays, one of them a 65-yard play-action touchdown to Quentin Johnston; CBS's box score has Herbert 2-of-3 for 74 yards. Harbaugh afterward, per Smith: "Wow. Double wow. The throw, the catch, the protection." The starting defense played eight snaps, allowed 21 yards, and forced a punt on the Rams' opening drive, per Smith. Cameron Dicker missed from 49 yards while making a 34-yarder and an extra point — he's "working through a little something," Harbaugh said. And undrafted running back Greg Desrosiers Jr. ran nine times for 118 yards with a 34-yard fourth-quarter touchdown, drew "He was great. We really like him" from Harbaugh — and was waived Sunday. The backfield kept Keaton Mitchell on the active roster despite what Borquez calls a mild setback, a choice he reads as optimism about Mitchell's recovery.

Nobody from the building spoke on cut day — the moves came by press release, and Harbaugh's last public words on the roster were Thursday night after the game: "I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion tomorrow, Saturday, even into Sunday," per Smith. The results of that discussion arrived as a transaction list.

Back in July we previewed this team as Justin Herbert's environment finally built — both tackles healthy, the interior of the line intact, Mike McDaniel imported to cut the time between snap and decision — and eight days ago we told you the interior clause broke: starting center out, a rookie days into the job, left guard unsettled. Cut day was the front office's reply. It didn't dispute the break; it spent roster spots on it — 11 offensive linemen, a named left guard, a rookie center, and Slater back at full first-team work with the tackles intact. The environment thesis now rests on a line that is proven at the edges and brand-new in the middle, and the season starts grading it September 13 against Arizona.

What to watch next: the waiver wire clears and the practice squads form behind it — where Colson, Desrosiers, Uiagalelei and the rest of this week's cut names actually land is the next episode's job — plus what the team does about the punter spot Scott's release opened. Beyond that, the most important Week 1 question in Los Angeles: whether an interior line of a rookie center and a left guard named at the end of camp is ready to protect Herbert against Arizona. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._