LA Chargers sign first-round draft pick Joe Alt, rookie contract details revealed

Following Joe Alt‘s No. 5 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft by the LA Chargers, the offensive lineman has now officially signed his rookie contract.

Alt inked a rookie deal for four years and $33.1 million with the Chargers. He’ll receive $20.9 million as a signing bonus. His contract also includes a fifth-year option for the team to keep him through the 2028 NFL season.

Alt began his football career as a tight end before eventually transitioning to offensive tackle, playing defensive end and basketball as well in high school as a decorated and exceptional multi-sport athlete with impressive skill for his size.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Alt was a four-star recruit out of Minneapolis (Minn.) Totino-Grace, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 6 overall prospect in the state, the No. 31 offensive tackle in the class and the No. 364 overall prospect in the class.

He would go to start in 33 of his 38 game appearances during his three-year career with Notre Dame as he showed constant improvement which paved the way for one of the nation’s best rushing attacks over the last couple seasons, as Kyren Williams and Audric Estime each posted some crazy individual seasons with the help of Alt’s blocking in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Joe Alt has long been seen as a can’t-miss offensive line prospect. Reliable tackles are about as hard to come by as any position in the NFL, and almost all of the good ones were drafted in the first or second round and rarely leave their team. In that sense, Alt is a likely generational tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers, a guy who will come in and deliver right away with the very real possibility of holding down the position for the next decade. At least, that’s the hope, right?

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein certainly believes LAC is getting a great kid and terrific prospect. He wrote this brief review of Alt’s game prior to the draft:

“Long-limbed team captain with NFL-quality tackle play coursing through his veins. Alt plays a disciplined brand of football, avoiding penalties and working with fluid transitions from entry to sustain to finish as a run blocker. Alt is a capable drive blocker with the foot quickness to play onto the second level.

“Alt clearly has the talent to become a Day 1 starter on the left side, but he’ll need to clean up his habit of leaning forward, or he could be in for some bumpy action early on.”