2026 NFL Draft: Why the Chargers selected OL Jake Slaughter

The Chargers have added to the interior of their offensive line, selecting Florida center Jake Slaughter with the 63rd overall pick. Chargers legend Shawne Merriman read the card and announced Slaughter as a guard, despite the Gator alum having a grand total of 0 snaps at guard in his college career. Slaughter played all 2,142 snaps at center over five years at Florida.

He did play some guard at the Senior Bowl, but struggled in those reps and was looked at by most analysts as a pure center. "I wouldn't say it's the first time I've ever [played guard]," Slaughter said of his experience at the position at the NFL Combine. "I did it a little bit in college, did it a little bit in high school.

We just always had great depth at guard, needed to play center and get better at playing center. I look forward to training more at guard, I've been training and getting ready for stuff like this. There's a lot of differences.

The spacing is what gets me. I'm used to this guy is right on me right now. Getting out in space a little bit more, getting hands on guys, there's some different body types you'll see at guard too that you're not necessarily gonna see in the A-gap.