Rashawn Slater shares his early impressions of Chargers rookie Zion Johnson.
COSTA MESA – Chargers rookie Zion Johnson was selected No. 17 overall by the club with the vision that he could be a plug-and-play right guard for the 2022 season and beyond.
It’s still early in training camp and the pads won’t come on until Monday, but Johnson is already receiving commendable words from his teammates across the offensive line.
“Confidence,” Slater said about Johnson when asked what his early impressions are of the first-round pick. “I can tell he’s got a really good head on his shoulders. Just smooth, confident, he’s always looking at his playbook, watching film. He’s just giving a calm energy. I can tell he’s ready to go and I’m really excited to watch him play.”
Johnson has received all the first-team reps at right guard during the team’s 11-on-11 team period portion of camp. The battle in the trenches will further establish itself during Week 2 of camp, but Johnson hasn’t shown any reason to believe he isn’t a fit for the Chargers’ front five group.
“I really don’t think he needs too much of it,” Slater said regarding Johnson needing any pep talks going over the challenges that the NFL may provide to a rookie. “He seems to be doing really well so far. I told him, ‘Ball is ball.’ At this level, everything moves a little bit faster. Guys have different talents, a little bit quicker and stuff like that. At the end of the day, it’s just like college. If you can just stay calm and trust your technique and trust what got you here. He’ll be just fine.”
Johnson didn’t allow a single quarterback pressure in his final collegiate season and committed just one sack across 2,288 career snaps at Boston College. He earned a 84.4 PFF grade last season, the second-best among ACC guards.
Johnson will put his best foot forward to uplift the right side of the Chargers’ offensive line alongside Trey Pipkins III or Storm Norton – the team’s two candidates to win the starting right tackle job throughout training camp.
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