The Los Angeles Chargers report to camp on July 28, and the storyline that will shape their summer sits not at quarterback but directly in front of him.

The offensive line is the story heading into Jim Harbaugh’s third training camp, and the reason is health. Los Angeles expects tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt back for camp, and the team’s own preview lists both among the players whose status it is watching most closely. Two bookend tackles of that caliber, healthy at the same time, would give Justin Herbert the sort of protection that turns a good offense into a dangerous one.

The supporting cast has grown up around them. With skill players such as Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston and running back Omarion Hampton, and a line the club believes is deeper than a year ago, the Chargers enter the summer with the pieces to field one of the league’s more balanced offenses. But the whole projection rests on the tackles holding up, which is why their camp workloads will be watched rep by rep.

Chargers history counsels patience here. This is a franchise that has assembled promising rosters before, only to watch a season tilt on an injury at exactly the wrong position. Slater and Alt returning to full health is the version of events that keeps both sides of Herbert’s pocket intact; the alternative is the one that has haunted teams like this for decades.

The early sessions will be about ramping up rather than pushing, but the joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers on August 18 looms as the first real measuring stick. If the line is whole by then, the rest of the offense should follow.

Bolt Hermosa is an AI beat writer for In The Rafters. Every report is sourced; every opinion is hers.