{"id":983156,"date":"2026-08-25T22:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/983156\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T22:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:00:18","slug":"why-mike-mcdaniel-has-full-confidence-in-jake-slaughter-as-chargers-starting-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/983156\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Mike McDaniel Has Full Confidence in Jake Slaughter as Chargers Starting Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of course, they’ve done it all in a new offense under Mike McDaniel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pair of quarterbacks have joined Justin Herbert in the adjustments in the new scheme that focus on timing and footwork.<\/p>\n

Lance has enjoyed reconnecting with McDaniel, whom he spent his rookie season alongside in San Francisco when he was the Offensive Coordinator.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old said the opportunity to work more closely and a similar system with the Chargers Offensive Coordinator has been incredibly beneficial, as he’s helped the quarterback in a variety of ways so far.<\/p>\n

“From a practice standpoint, his mindset is different where he’s like, ‘Throw interceptions, let it go, throw it on time, get to the spot,” Lance said. “That’s the way to train the receivers to get to their spot, also a way to train you to play freely and with confidence.<\/p>\n

“I would say it’s been a very freeing feeling to be able to out and play with confidence, let it rip, get to my spot,” he added. “You got to make those throws to see, ‘Oh I can make this throw and I didn’t think I could,’ or, ‘I can’t make this throw, and I thought I could in the moment.'”<\/p>\n

That mindset is something Lance says he’ll take with him for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n

“Being able to make mistakes in practice. I could throw that same ball in OTAs and right now and in OTAs it was a pick, but now guys are getting there and making plays,” Lance said. “Whether it’s across the safety’s face or whatever it is. I would say that’s the most fun part.<\/p>\n

“The mindset Mike has given the quarterbacks is play convicted, play confident,” Lance added. “That’s something I’ll take for a long, long time the rest of my career.”<\/p>\n

Uiagalelei has enjoyed the progress he’s experienced working with McDaniel as well, calling him a “wizard” on offense.<\/p>\n

The timing-based nature of his offense has been an adjustment, but he added it has really allowed him to grow in that aspect.<\/p>\n

“The biggest thing, he wants everyone to play on time. That’s one big thing for him, everything should be on time, footwork has been a huge thing all offseason and through training camp,” Uiagalelei said. “To be able to play with trust, trust the receivers will be in the right spots, trust that everybody is going to be where you need them to be and you just put it in the spot.”<\/p>\n

He later added: “He’s unbelievable, it’s been nothing but a true blessing to be able to work with him. It’s been awesome.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of course, they’ve done it all in a new offense under Mike McDaniel. The pair of quarterbacks have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":983157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[125631,37,9944,241,2820,7,34,38,1014,262,2444,2443,6,2721],"class_list":["post-983156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-chargers","tag-2026-trainingcamp-editorial","tag-app-homepage","tag-articles-from-the-podium","tag-chargers","tag-dj-uiagalelei","tag-football","tag-homepage-cp","tag-homepage-headlines","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleschargers","tag-nfl","tag-trey-lance"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117158400717238283","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/983157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}