Los Angeles Chargers Player Facing the Most Pressure in 2026
Justin Herbert took an absolute beating in 2025. He absorbed 54 sacks - the second-most in the league - including a six-sack game in the Los Angeles Chargers‘ Wild Card loss to New England and finished the year playing with a broken hand. How he made it through 16 games, I don’t know.
The biggest reason for all of that punishment was the fact that the Chargers’ two star tackles barely played.
Rashawn Slater tore his patellar tendon in training camp, just weeks after signing a four-year $114 million extension that made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. That injury forced him to miss the entire 2025 season.
Joe Alt then slid over from right tackle to left tackle to protect Herbert’s blind side, and looked great in his time doing it, recording an 82.3 pass-blocking grade by PFF, which ranked sixth among all tackles. But he suffered a high-ankle injury in Week 9 that ultimately required surgery, ending his season, too.
With both former first-round picks out, the Chargers cycled through nearly 30 different offensive line combinations and still somehow won 11 games and made the playoffs.
But the bar for Jim Harbaugh in LA is no longer the playoffs. This is a team built to win a Super Bowl, and their 2026 title hopes rest on both Slater and Alt staying on the field.
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Slater, the 13th overall pick in 2021, earned second-team All-Pro honors as a rookie. He also earned Pro Bowl honors that year and in 2024. But he’s now dealt with two serious injuries in four years, after previously rupturing the biceps tendon in his left arm during the 2022 season, limiting him to just three games.
Alt, the fifth overall pick in 2024, has shown flashes of being a true difference-maker, including earning his first Pro Bowl nod last year despite appearing in just six games. But he, too, has dealt with injuries and has yet to play a full NFL season.
Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz said back in April that both are progressing “ahead of schedule” in their recoveries and look on pace to bounce back in 2026. But it’s just talk until they’re actually back on the field.
Of the two, the pressure is probably a bit heavier on Slater. He’s older, already on his second contract, and has now missed nearly two full seasons in five years. But there’s real pressure on both given what the team spent in draft capital to bring them to LA.
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This story was originally published July 18, 2026 at 6:15 PM.