The Los Angeles Chargers‘ Week 4 collapse cost Jim Harbaugh far more than just an embarrassing 0-4 record. A brutal wave of injuries gutted the depth chart, leaving a desperate locker room completely stripped of its core veterans right when the season began to slip away.
The hits keep coming for Los Angeles. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport broke the news Monday that two-time Pro Bowler Rashawn Slater is headed for a multi-week stint on the shelf.
Chargers Get Ugly Rashawn Slater Injury Update
“Chargers Pro Bowl OT Rashawn Slater is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain based on initial exams,” Rapoport reported, noting the severity typically requires a month or more to bounce back.
With Jim Harbaugh confirming a 4-to-6 week recovery window, the standard timeline for a high-ankle sprain, the Chargers are officially mulling an IR designation.
Yet the real gut-punch for this offense is the domino effect. With Joe Alt also knocked out by a neck injury, Los Angeles finished Week 4 relying on four rookie offensive linemen to protect Justin Herbert. Stripping a 0-4 locker room of its All-Pro anchor is brutal enough. Watching the entire offensive line come crashing in a single afternoon leaves Harbaugh with zero safety nets.
Harbaugh confirmed Monday that the team is “still evaluating” the severity of Slater & Alt’s injuries, but Slater is “more of a possibility for IR” than Alt.
They will only know that once the MRI results are in. “He’ll have an MRI this morning, but that’s an injury that generally takes several weeks to heal. A hit to the LAC OL,” Rapoport further added.
If either Slater or Alt is placed on Injured Reserve, they would have to miss at least the next four games.
“Next man up. Putting the plan together and treating it like it’s a one-game season. That’s what we’re doing,” Harbaugh said.
Chargers, Jim Harbaugh Pivot to Backup Line for Week 5
Slater was injured with roughly eight minutes left in the fourth quarter of Week 4.
With the Bolts offense at Seattle’s 5-yard line, the Chargers gained three yards on a run to the left, but a Seahawks defender rolled up on the back of Slater’s leg. Rookie Logan Taylor, who was already in the game at left guard for Trevor Penning, took Slater’s spot at left tackle.
The injury is really unfortunate for Slater because he missed the entire 2025 season under similar circumstances, after suffering a ruptured patellar tendon in training camp last August.
Travis Burke filled in for Alt the rest of the way at right tackle and played 49 snaps in all of Week 4.
With Alt and Slater both most likely out for the Week 5 game against the Broncos, the Chargers will have no option but to rely on the group that they finished the Seahawks game with: from left to right, Taylor, Slaughter, Spomer, Cole Strange, and Burke.
Harbaugh had a good feeling about them when asked if that’s what they are considering for the Broncos game.
“I don’t know if it will be the exact way the game ended, but that’s the group that we’ll be talking about working with,” Harbaugh said.
He later added: “We’ll work on that during the week. At one point we had four of the rookie linemen in there, and they acquitted themselves well.”
Chargers’ 0-4 Season Hits Rock Bottom With Crushing Injury Update on 2X Pro Bowler