The injuries to the offensive line continue to rack up for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Tackle Joe Alt suffered an ankle injury in the team’s Week 9 victory over the Tennessee Titans, which forced him to leave the game in the second quarter. While the team was optimistic about his injury, it was revealed that the second-year offensive lineman will need surgery for the injury.
“Feel bad for him. I feel bad for Joe,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the news came out. “I know it’s gonna be okay, it’s not going to be life-altering. But feel bad for him.”
This is a significant blow to the Bolts’ offensive line, which already lost tackle Rashawn Slater for the season after he tore his patellar tendon during training camp. Slater signed a three-year, $113 million contract extension with the team before he suffered his injury.
With the injuries to the offensive line, the Chargers will need to prepare for the future without Alt.
Rebuilding The Offensive Line
GettyLos Angeles Chargers Tackle Joe Alt
With Joe Alt now gone, the LA Chargers are without two of their top offensive linemen and will need to adjust for the coming weeks to make a run to the playoffs in a competitive AFC West.
After beating the Titans, a reporter asked Jim Harbaugh what the message was to the team going forward after the loss of two key players on their offense. Here’s what the head coach had to say:
“It played out in the game. You saw how the guys responded,” Harbaugh said. “There was a lot to overcome in that game [on] Sunday and our guys found a way and overcame it.”
“You just keep going, keep getting better. Build and get better. The biggest part about getting better is better tomorrow than today, better today than yesterday. You just build and stack. That’s how you go about it.”
LA has other injuries to its offensive front, including $20 million guard signing Mekhi Becton, who missed Week 9 with a knee injury. If the Chargers are going to make a move, they need to be quick.
Times Ticking
GettyChargers General Manager Joe Hortiz
The Los Angeles Chargers have less than 24 hours to make some trades to help out their offensive line with the 2025 NFL Trade Deadline in less than a day.
With the loss of Joe Alt, Los Angeles needs to start calling teams about their offensive lineman if the team wants to protect Justin Herbert the rest of the season.
Herbert has been sacked 28 times this season, the third most in the league, with the sacks attributed to losing their O-linemen.
The Bolts may be wary if they were to make a trade before the deadline. LA only has five draft picks in the 2026 NFL Draft and may not be able to make any notable trades unless they use 2027 draft capital.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Chargers Jim Harbaugh Gets Real After Losing Star Lineman appeared first on Heavy Sports.