Jim Harbaugh crowns Chargers' most improved player after just one week

As the Los Angeles Chargers prepare for their Week 2 showdown with the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, one thing is certainly clear: the offensive line will be fine. Yes, it's only been one week, but many quickly wrote off the unit following Rashawn Slater's season-ending injury.

2024 No.3 overall pick Joe Alt was shifted to the left side to replace Slater and didn't disappoint. In Alt's left tackle debut in Week 1, he pitched a shutout, allowing no pressures, hits or sacks on the night. He even shut down Chiefs' dominant defensive lineman Chris Jones a few times.

Alt's performance in Week 1 was so good that head coach Jim Harbaugh had exceptional praise for his second year tackle.

"I've been saying it, as well as Joe played last year, he's maybe been our most improved player this season," Harbaugh said, per Omar Navarro of the team's website. "It showed Week 1. No matter who they put over him, he got his job done. Whether it was pass protection, run blocking, pulling."

The Bolts already know what they have in Slater, the All-Pro tackle that recently signed a massive extension before going down with an injury. Whenever he comes back next year, the Chargers will arguably have the best set of tackles in the league. Alt's Week 1 performance puts him on a trajectory towards a major year two jump.

Alt's next test in a few days will be against Maxx Crosby. It'll be interesting to see how he performs against Crosby on the left side.

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