The Los Angeles Chargers released offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood from their practice squad on Tuesday without the former Alabama All-American playing in any of the NFL’s teams 13 games this season.
The Chargers released Leatherwood to create a roster spot for wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick had been a member of the Los Angeles practice squad, too, until he was released on Thursday. Injuries to wide receivers, though, caused the Chargers to bring back Fitzpatrick in a hurry.
Wide receiver Ladd McConkey is Los Angeles’ leading receiver in 2024 even though he is a rookie and he missed Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs because of a knee injury. Wide receiver Jalen Reagor left Sunday’s game because of a finger injury.
Each NFL team can elevate two players from its practice squad to active status for each game.
Leatherwood earned the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman and received unanimous All-American recognition in 2020 for Alabama’s undefeated CFP national-championship team before joining the Crimson Tide’s record-tying six first-round picks in the 2021 NFL Draft as the 17th selection.
In his rookie season, Leatherwood started every game for the Las Vegas Raiders and played every offensive snap in all but one. The Crimson Tide’s starting right guard in 2018 and starting left tackle in 2019 and 2020, Leatherwood lined up at right tackle in his first four NFL games and right guard for the next 13 while playing 1,105 offensive snaps in 2021.
But he has played only 32 offensive snaps in four games in the three seasons since, and his most recent appearance in an NFL regular-season game came on Jan. 8, 2023.
After being released by the Raiders as they reduced their preseason roster to the regular-season limit of 53 active players, Leatherwood went to the Chicago Bears as a waiver claim in 2022.
Leatherwood played in four games for Chicago in 2022. Mononucleosis sidelined Leatherwood shortly after he joined the team, and he did not make his season debut until Dec. 4 in the Bears’ 13th game.
When Chicago waived Leatherwood at the end of the 2023 preseason, Leatherwood signed with the Browns’ practice squad on Aug. 30, 2023, and spent the entire season there without getting into a game.
Leatherwood signed with the Chargers as a free agent on May 29. He was one of Los Angeles’ most active players during the Chargers’ three preseason games as he played 127 offensive snaps. But he did not make the regular-season roster and ended up on the practice squad.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at@AMarkG1.