Los Angeles Chargers add former first-round pick to emerging offensive line

Travis Wakeman

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Los Angeles Chargers add former first-round pick to emerging offensive line image

The Los Angeles Chargers are not messing around regarding the offensive line heading into the 2024 season, and that is just how Jim Harbaugh likes it. 

On Wednesday, the team agreed to terms with former first-round pick Alex Leatherwood who now gets a shot to get his career on the right track. Leatherwood was the No. 17 overall pick of the 2021 draft by the Raiders and was waived in August of 2022. 

He has had stints with the Chicago Bears and most recently, the Cleveland Browns. He has played in 21 career games with 17 starts but has been widely considered a first-round bust due to how quickly his time with the Raiders was up.

 

Alex Leatherwood will get chance to burst back onto the NFL scene with Chargers

If there is a good place for a player like Leatherwood to go right now, it's in L.A. where Jim Harbaugh is going to preach stout offensive line play. The team already has one of the best offensive tackle combinations in the league with Rashawn Slater and first-round pick Joe Alt and if Leatherwood can come aboard and look like the guy that was drafted in the first round, this unit will be a handful.

Leatherwood is no stranger to success. He was part of a two-time national championship team at Alabama and in 2020, he was given the Outland Trophy, awarded to the best interior offensive lineman in the nation. 

This qualifies under low-risk, high-reward signings and the reward could be quite nice. Leatherwood is still just 25 years old. 

Travis Wakeman

Travis Wakeman Photo

Travis Wakeman has been covering the NFL since 2012 when he started with Bleacher Report. After reporting about the Broncos there until 2016, he joined the FanSided network as a site expert covering the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers while simultaneously covering the Broncos at Broncos Wire when that site launched. He then took over the Broncos site at FanSided in March 2020 and covered the team there until spring of 2024. A lifelong Broncos fan and fan of the game, Travis is filled with sometimes useless NFL knowledge, but it always serves him well in any trivia contest. You can follow him on Twitter/X @traviswakeman10.