Los Angeles Chargers rookie offensive tackle Joe Alt gave Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby plenty of fits two weeks ago in his NFL debut.
Now Alt goes up against another premier defensive end in TJ Watt, who has been a First Team AP All-Pro in four of the last five years and the 2021 AP Defensive Player of the Year.
Watt has also led the NFL in sacks in three of the last four seasons, including having 19 sacks last year.
Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman said having to go up against Crosby followed by Watt in two of a player’s first three games is an offensive line nightmare, but not for Alt.
Chargers Rookie Off To Amazing Start
“As far as Crosby Week 1, now you’ve got T.J. Watt, ‘Merry Christmas,’” Roman said Thursday to the media. “Watt’s a great player.”
Alt, who is 6-foot-9 and 322 pounds, did not allow Crosby to have a single pressure. He now takes on Watt, who is five inches shorter than Alt and nearly 70 pounds less.
Since offseason training camp when Roman first started working with Alt, all the way up until this week, the comparisons between Alt and Watt have been endless.
One player includes Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden, who is an 11-time Pro Bowler, a four-time AP First Team All-Pro, a five-time AP Second Team AP All Pro and finished fifth in the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year voting in 1996. Ogden is also a Super Bowl Champion in his 12-year career.
Roman said the growth Alt has made thus far goes a long way and with more improvements to come, it is a recipe for long-term success, despite only being two games into his NFL career.
“I think the potential is limitless. I was with Jonathan Ogden many years ago and he has a chance to touch that stratosphere,” Roman said. “That’s a lot of work, time, knowledge, experience away. Right now, he is battling every day to get everything down. Empirical data is the best data and his ability to learn from experience has been great so far. His ability to file things away, move on to the next thing, very big.”
Another strong performance this week against Watt and the defense means that Joe Alt could be the frontrunner for AFC AP Offensive Rookie of the Year through the first three weeks of the season.
