Through the first 12 weeks of this 2025 regular season, the Los Angeles Chargers have easily had one of the worst offensive lines in football. Truth be told, before the Week 13 slate kicked off on Thanksgiving Day—a Turkey Day that saw the Bolts get some unexpected help in the AFC playoff picture, by the way—the fine folks at PFF actually had the Chargers' O-line ranked as the worst in the entire NFL.
The trouble started before the season ever began when two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater went down with a season-ending torn patellar tendon, an injury that basically forced Jim Harbaugh to move second-year stud Joe Alt from right tackle to the left side to take Slater's spot, then sliding Trey Pipkins III into the starting lineup to take Alt's place on the right side.
Things got even worse, of course, when Alt was forced to miss several games with a right ankle injury, the same right ankle that has now cost Alt his season.
Pipkins, Austin Deculus, and Bobby Hart have all attempted to pick up the slack, but all three have missed time as well, and it's not as if any of them have played particularly well when on the field.
The Bolts acquired former first-round pick Trevor Penning from the New Orleans Saints just ahead of the trade deadline, but his first start at left tackle proved to be a disaster, as his 46.3 overall PFF grade was the worst of any Chargers player in the team's 35-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 11.
And as it turns out, that may end up being Penning's only start, as Jim Harbaugh announced on Friday that Jamaree Salyer will get the start at left tackle this Sunday when the Bolts take on the Las Vegas Raiders, a move that should have happened long before now.
Chargers finally make the Jamaree Salyer move fans have begged for
A sixth-round pick of the Bolts back in 2022, Salyer was thrust into the starting lineup early in his rookie campaign when Slater tore a biceps tendon in Week 3, thus ending his season. Salyer ultimately made 14 starts that season and played quite well, earning a respectable 69.8 overall PFF grade and a strong 76.4 pass-blocking grade.
Since then, though, Salyer has mostly been used at the guard position and just hasn't been nearly as effective. Interestingly enough, the 25-year-old got a shot to play left tackle a few weeks back in the Bolts' Week 9 win over the Tennessee Titans. And how'd that turn out?
Well, he took 38 snaps at LT and went out and earned the highest pass-blocking grade of any Los Angeles offensive lineman at 82.4 and the second-highest run-blocking grade at 70.5.
So, this was an easy call, one Justin Herbert should love, seeing as how he's taken the most pressures in the entire NFL this season and the fourth-most sacks. Salyer won't fix all of the problems on the Chargers' O-line, but he's undoubtedly an upgrade.