Even with an 11-win record and a Wild Card Round berth, last season was undeniably disappointing for the Los Angeles Chargers.
There are lots of places where you can rest the blame for that fact— most notably upon Greg Roman's stagnant offensive scheme. But at the end of the day, the loss of the team's two star tackles, Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater, to season-ending injuries bears the brunt of the blame.
Slater went down in an offseason workout with a torn patellar tendon. His season was over before it even started. Alt was slightly more available. He appeared in the first four games of the season before going down with an ankle injury, only to return for two weeks and re-injure that ankle and go down for the season. The Chargers tried a wide range of potential replacements in their place, but none were able to replicate anything close to what Alt and Slater would've provided.
Now, heading into training camp, both players appear to be fully healthy and activated. The Chargers' plan is to take things slowly, and that's the right move.
But at every turn they must hold their breath. They simply can't afford for Alt or Slater to miss significant time in 2026.
Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater are the X-factors for this Chargers team in 2026
Harbaugh explained the Chargers' approach to Alt and Slater's re-integration with one of his famously obscure analogies.
"It's like a plane just starting on a runway," Harbaugh explained. "It's gonna get moving, it's gonna get going-and then it's going to start going so fast it's going to take off and be flying. But there's a ramp up...I think of it as a glide theory that we move into. Pretty much we're not doing anything that we haven't done already. Mindset would be much like an OTA for me, what they've already done."
For most players, that's what the early part of training camp represents— a runway to get acclimated to the new coaching staff and the new physical demands of the season. It's not surprising in the least that Alt and Slater will be on a sort of 'ramp-up' plan over the month of August.
There's less re-injury risk with Alt than there is with Slater. But the Chargers can't afford to lose either in training camp.
Slater also missed almost the entirety of the 2022 season with a severe injury. But when he's been healthy, he's been among the league's top tackles. He made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2024. Alt didn't make the Pro Bowl as a rookie— although he finished with down-ballot votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year— but he flashed enough across his six games last season to receive the honor.
While Los Angeles re-shaped the entirety of their interior protection this offseason, adding Tyler Biadasz and Cole Strange and setting the stage for a competition at left guard, those pieces aren't who the offensive line hinges upon. While McDaniel will be able to scheme around any deficits in guard talent, there's no real replacement for either Alt or Slater on the Chargers roster.
It's clear the coaching staff has a plan to get both Alt and Slater back to full activity during training camp. But at each turn, Chargers fans will be holding their breath, hoping and praying that another injury doesn't derail their season from the jump.
Add us as a preferred source on Google