National Football League

Chargers pick Joe Alt with No. 5 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft

Updated Apr. 25, 2024 8:56 p.m. ET

The Los Angeles Chargers selected Notre Dame offensive lineman Joe Alt with the No. 5 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday night.

Alt will help protect star quarterback Justin Herbert and give new coach Jim Harbaugh a player to help establish the kind of strong running game that he prefers.

Alt is the son of John Alt, who played OL at Iowa and was a first-round pick by Kansas City in 1984 before earning two Pro Bowl selections. His brother, Mark, played hockey at Minnesota and in the NHL.

Last season, he served as a team captain and started 12 games with the Fighting Irish, earning first-team All-American honors for the second year in a row. Alt was a finalist for both the Outland Trophy (nation's top interior offensive/defensive lineman) and Lombardi Award (nation's top college OL/DL).

The 2023-24 Notre Dame offense was ranked second in school history with 39.1 points per game and ranked eighth all-time averaging 5.3 yards per rush, third all-time in passing yards per attempt (9.13), second in yards per play (6.954), seventh in total yards (5,619) and first in fourth-quarter points (135).

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