It's been a disastrous season for the Chargers' offensive line. From an injury and stats standpoint, the unit is arguably worse than it's ever been. The team is currently playing without four of their five originally projected starters. They've had to start four rookies in Alex Harkey, Travis Burke, Jake Slaughter, and Logan Taylor.
The Chargers are 30th in pass block win rate. QB Justin Herbert is the second-most pressured and sacked QB so far this season. The run blocking looks horrid on film. Simply put, the Chargers cannot continue to operate an offense like this and expect success.
Help is on the way for the Chargers as they attempt to stabilize their offensive line.
C Tyler Biadasz was done for the year in August with a torn ACL. Jake Slaughter will continue his season starting at the center spot. RT Joe Alt, LG Kayode Awosika, and LT Rashawn Slater seem like they will return this year.
On Monday, HC Jim Harbaugh said that Alt and Awosika were gearing up to return during the BYE week.
RT Joe Alt (neck) and LG Kayode Awosika (fibula) were participating during the portion of today’s Chargers practice open to the media.
— Noah Furtado (@bynoahfurtado) October 21, 2026
On Wednesday's portion of practice that was open to the media, Alt and Awosika were seen working back into their first practices in a while. Ian Rapoport mentioned Alt getting a positive update from a neck specialist earlier in the week. Harbaugh mentioned that Awosika has been "healing" and making progress.
Will these two positive health updates alone fix the offensive line? Of course not. But for Herbert and the entire offense, it's about getting some marginal improvement. If they can go from arguably the worst line in the sport to 25th or 26th instead, I'd take it at this point.
If McDaniel wants to be able to run outside zone and bootlegs in his scheme, he needs any improvement he can get as far as OL personnel. Despite the best efforts of rookies put in an unfortunate position, they have absolutely no shot to improve the offense with the composition of the OL from the last two weeks.
Rashawn Slater also looks like he'll return at some point. After suffering a high ankle sprain, he underwent tightrope surgery in order to aid his recovery. Even if the Chargers are firmly out of the playoff race by the time Slater returns, he doesn't get tightrope done if he wasn't planning on coming back. Slater would first be eligible to return on Monday Night Football in Week 10 at Baltimore.
More than a strict focus on winning going forward, the Chargers simply need more reinforcements on offense so they can get some positive momentum going. They need it for McDaniel in his attempt to save his job. They need to be able to protect Herbert better. But perhaps most importantly, they just need to be a bad offensive line as opposed to the worst in the league. The amount of attrition along the offensive line and the hits Herbert is taking are both unsustainable. Getting Awosika and Alt back soon at least helps with that a little bit.
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