The Los Angeles Chargers have been under a complete overhaul since the firing of Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco and one of the biggest things to come of such is the way that new General Manager, Joe Hortiz operates the team. This year has been a pleasant surprise to what Chargers fans were so used to under Telesco, as Hortiz is much more active in every stage of the NFL year, even changing the roster up during training camp. This year has been a pleasant surprise to what Chargers fans were so used to under Telesco.
Alex Leatherwood’s Career Path
Coming into the draft in 2021, Alex Leatherwood was seen as someone to be drafted on day two and possibly be a guy to develop into a strong starter, unfortunately for all parties involved, he was drafted #17 overall by the Las Vegas Raiders. This continued their long-standing lack of success in drafting players.
In a previous article written about the signing of Leatherwood, I described his first season as follows: “Alex Leatherwood got on the field and started all 17 games in his rookie season, this is usually a pretty good sign that a first-round selection is going in a positive direction. He even played both guard and tackle, showing his versatility at the NFL level. Unfortunately, being on the field and being a contributor is two separate things. During the season, Leatherwood recorded 14 penalties, eight sacks allowed, and 65 pressures allowed.”
The first-round pick was so bad during his rookie campaign that he was released shortly after. A decision that is so rare in the NFL, especially for a team that needs any talent they can get. From there, Leatherwood has bounced around the league, not really sticking anywhere. He played a few snaps in 2022 for the Chicago Bears, coming on some special teams and relief purposes. He still gave up 5 pressures in 20 pass-blocking snaps. After the full year of 2023 on the practice squad with the Cleveland Browns, the Chargers decided to give Leatherwood a call and sign him to the 90-man roster. The perfect candidate to be a part of what is being deemed “Harbaugh University.”
leatherwood pic.twitter.com/GcwgQOxvfS
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) May 29, 2024
Why is Leatherwood to be Cut?
Since his signing with the Chargers, Alex Leatherwood has been working as the second-team offensive tackle, competing with Foster Sarell who was also playing tackle for the second team. There were few moments where his play would click, and give promise, thus the Chargers coaching staff hoped for his development, especially as he was a former first-round pick. However, everything changed in preseason week one.
During the course of the game against the Seahawks, Leatherwood completely fell apart against the opposing team’s pass rush. On 20 pass-blocking snaps the former first-round selection recorded six pressures, and had a single-digit pass-blocking PFF grade of 7.7. Surprisingly this was not the worst of the preseason, but was definitely in the lowest echelon of players. Extremely disappointing for anyone, but especially for the former first-round pick.
Bottom 5 Chargers PFF offense grades vs. Seattle*:
1. OT Alex Leatherwood 29.6
2. QB Easton Stick 32.7
3. RT Foster Sarell 39.5
4. C Bucky Williams 47.9
5. RT Tyler McLellan 48.6*filtered to 10+ snaps pic.twitter.com/YSemD0AbBg
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) August 11, 2024
After the atrocious performance, it was clear that the coaching staff realized that he may be a problem they could not fix. He was delegated to the third-team offense. Undrafted rookie Tyler McLellan has been the next man up, now playing with the second-team offense. The end of the road is very near for Leatherwood unless he can quickly turn it around in these next two preseason games.
Main Photo Credit: Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports
