Rashawn Slater

Los Angeles Chargers

Pos LT

Updated August 24, 2026

LT rankings →

Model Score

89.0 MODEL

2021

91.7

2023

89.0

2024

89.0

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

Draft & College

Round 1, pick 13 · Los Angeles Chargers · 2021

NWESTERN (Unknown)

Taken

#13

where he actually went

Consensus board

12th

average of the public big boards that spring

Our college model

#224

among OT in our college data

He went about where consensus had him.

In college · 2017-2019 · partial record

What this pick usually becomes

Of the 220 players taken as a late first-rounder between 2012 and 2021, 70% earned a second contract and 72% became starters. The median one started 58 career games.

STM Take

2021 1st-team All-Pro plus two Pro Bowls plus the $114M extension plus the Northwestern 13th overall draft pedigree establishes Slater as one of the elite left tackles of his generation. The 2025 preseason patellar tendon plus the missed full season puts continued durability question on every 2026 projection. The 2026 question is whether Slater returns to tier 1-2 territory in his year-one recovery or whether the structural injury wear creates major contract-value risk.

Slater came out of Northwestern as the Los Angeles Chargers' 1st-round pick (13th overall) in 2021. He earned 2021 1st-team All-Pro plus made two Pro Bowls (2021, 2024). He signed a four-year, $114M extension in 2024 that made him one of the highest-paid offensive tackles in NFL history at signing. He tore his patellar tendon in 2025 preseason and missed the entire year.

Strengths

2021 1st-team All-Pro plus two Pro Bowls (2021, 2024) plus the 13th overall draft pedigree plus the $114M extension establishes elite LT career résumé.
Northwestern Big Ten 13th overall draft pedigree plus the elite All-Pro production gives him the highest-pedigree LT foundation of his class.

Concerns

2025 preseason patellar tendon plus the missed full season puts continued durability question on every 2026 projection.
$24M 2026 cap hit on the $114M extension creates major contract-value risk if Slater cannot return to tier 1-2 territory.

What to watch: Whether Slater returns to tier 2 (top 15) in 2026 in his year-one patellar recovery, the threshold for confirming the elite All-Pro ceiling can be recaptured.