Chargers OT Joe Alt Expected to Miss Week 5 Matchup Against Broncos

The Los Angeles Chargers have a ton of injuries to manage across the board, and in particular on the offensive line, which could be problematic this week, especially against the defensive front that the Denver Broncos have.

On that note, per NFL insider Ian Rapoport, Chargers offensive tackle Joe Alt is expected to miss the Week 5 matchup against the Broncos as a result of the neck injury he suffered in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks.

Rapoport did also mention that Alt is rehabbing his injury and at this point there are no plans to put him on injured reserve. However, with that said it will definitely be worth monitoring how he progresses and if he will be out multiple weeks.

Along the offensive line, Alt is not the only major loss this regular season. Last week, fellow offensive tackle Rashawn Slater suffered what appears to be a high ankle sprain that will keep him out for multiple weeks. Additionally, on the interior, guard Trevor Penning is working through a concussion that he suffered last week as well.

With that said, the Chargers will be heavily relying their pair of rookie offensive tackles in Travis Burke and Logan Taylor who had to step in when Alt and Slater went down in Week 4.

Obviously, as rookie tackles Burke and Taylor have very minimal NFL experience, and against the Broncos' pass rush this week, it is going to be a very tall task for this group to overcome and protect quarterback Justin Herbert more effectively than in past weeks.

When it comes to the interior, it will be interesting to see what happens as on the Week 5 injury report for Wednesday, Penning did not practice, guard Kayode Awosika did not practice (fibula), and guard Branson Taylor (neck) did not practice either. It is also important to note that offensive lineman Trey Pipkins III is on IR with a knee injury so he cannot step in either.

Clearly, the offensive line as a whole is in a very rough spot and will very likely have a lot of moving parts until key players are able to return from injury.

As the week progresses, it will be worth monitoring the status of Penning, Awosika, and Branson Taylor because if none of them practice this week and are ruled out, that will most likely result in rookie Jake Slaughter moving from center to left guard and then having to start undrafted free agent Jacob Spomer at center. To finish off the lineup, in that case it could be Cole Strange at right guard, Burke at right tackle, and Logan Taylor at left tackle.

So, as the Chargers prepare to battle the Broncos on Sunday, it will be interesting to see what the starting offensive line combination looks like and if this group can find a way to block effectively and consistently, because if they cannot, this team could very well fall to 0-5, and this season will become even more difficult to salvage.