It's hard to find positions on the Chargers that have been more of a focal point throughout the offseason than center and left guard.
Since Chargers General Manager Joe Hortiz and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh brought up trying Zion Johnson at center early in the offseason, it's been something at the forefront of the conversation.
And while Harbaugh said it's not necessarily a competition between him and last year's starter Bradley Bozeman, finding the right match is the most important thing on their mind as the regular season approaches.
"It's going good. Both doing really good," Harbaugh said on Friday. "It's not really a competition [between them], but it's a competition to get our best combination.
"It's going in a really good direction," he added.
While Johnson and Bozeman have alternated between the two positions throughout the offseason program and eight days into training camp, Bozeman was at center Friday for the second straight day.
Bozeman, who returned to the Chargers in free agency this offseason, said Friday he was well-aware of the situation when he decided to come back to the team.
And already having prior experience working at left guard seasons ago, the veteran has enjoyed the rotation so far.
"I knew that from the jump that that's what we're going to be doing. I knew we'd be rotating and playing guys at different positions and stuff," Bozeman said. "Wherever I can compete and be a part of this team and help this team anywhere I can, I'm here for it.
"Enjoyed it, loved working with Zion and Zion is an amazing competitor," Bozeman added. "He brings it every single day. It's been fun to be able to work some center and guard between me and him and swapping back and forth."
As for Johnson, this has been unchartered territory that he's attacked head on.
The fourth-year offensive lineman never played center in his football career but did take some reps at the position at the Senior Bowl in the lead up to the 2022 NFL Draft.
Lining up at center was always something he said was a possibility because of his size and athleticism, so when he was told about getting tried out there, he was all for it to help the team win.
It's also helped he's had a lot of resources that have helped guide him through the change.
"I have a lot of voices, a lot of people in the organization and in our room that I could really rely on and learn from," Johnson said. "Boze has played a lot of football at the center position and he's played some guard too. I get to talk to him, ask him certain things about playing center and he's open in that way.
"We also have Coach [Nick] Hardwick, who played a lot of great football for our team," Johnson added. "Coach [Mike] Devlin was a center, and I still have people I could rely on that played for our organization that were great centers like [former Chargers center] Corey [Linsley] who is always willing to help. I just feel blessed that I have all these resources in our room."
Johnson said the former longtime starting center Hardwick in particular has been instrumental in helping him out with some of the intricacies of the position.
"Coach Hardwick helped me a lot. He was the one that helped me dial in my snap mechanics and figure out what's the best way for me to snap the football," Johnson said. "Every center is different with that.
"He was just an open book to me and any question I had, I could call him and he'd answer it for me," he added.
There's been a lot of adjustments that come with the position that Johnson has been ironing out with each valuable rep.
But whatever way the order ends up falling by the time the regular season comes, he believes this experience will help him become a better player at whatever position that may be.
"I feel like playing center could even help me become a better guard in some sense," Johnson said. "Having ownership over the entire scheme, knowing where everyone is supposed to be and how things are supposed to shake out, especially playing the interior line positions.
"It helps you paint the picture of where you need to be and where everyone around you is going to be," Johnson added.
And as Bozeman has seen in his career, having the ability to play different positions could be a valuable asset in the long run.
"In the old words of Joe D'Alessandro, my old offensive line coach in Baltimore that passed a way a couple of years ago, 'You've got to cross train.' You've got to cross train and it helps the team," Bozeman said. "You never know what's going to happen out there."
Bozeman later added: "Whatever it may be, you have that guy that could step in and be able to play that position is a huge asset."
Next up for Johnson is getting live reps at center with the pads on.
"I do want to get Zion playing center in pads, get that under our belt," Harbaugh said.
The offensive lineman has not lined up center during the two padded practices so far in training camp, as it was Bozeman's turn each time they've put them on.
It will be an important step that Harbaugh and the team will have their eye on.
"We're going to want to see that. But the first two steps are the most important and our guys do a good job to make it as close to game-like as you can get," Harbaugh said. "I already know, I've already seen that he can play the position, whether it's guard or center, at a very high level.
"But the snapping, the making of the calls, that's where he doesn't have the time on task that those who have been playing center year after year have," Harbaugh added.
Johnson is looking forward to more reps as well and however the room shakes out, the pair of linemen are focused on the main goal — help the group however they can.
"[They are] very important. That's something the staff and our room have been talking about a lot, Boze playing guard and me playing center," Johnson said. "We got to get the live reps together to build that chemistry, so that's definitely something we've been talking about and thinking about implementing."
Johnson later added: "I want to help the team in any way possible, whether that's left guard, I played right guard and now I have experience at center. However they see fit, I'm willing to plug in there and help best way I can."
