Jim Harbaugh dubs Maxx Crosby 'a premier edge player' in NFL history

The Los Angeles Chargers will face the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday for both teams' season openers.

The matchup marks a variety of firsts: Jim Harbaugh's first regular season game as the Chargers' head coach, Gardner Minshew's first start as the Raiders' QB1 and the first career start for 2024 No. 5 overall pick Joe Alt.

For his first assignment, Alt, a 6-foot-8, 322-pound right tackle, will be going up against one of the best pass rushers in the NFL in Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby.

Crosby's coming off a 14.5-sack season, and per PFF , he has a league-leading 323 pressures since 2020.

Harbaugh said that "there can't be a bigger test right out of the gate" for Alt.

"Starting out against a premier edge player in this game, in the history of the game, really," Harbaugh said .

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert also spoke about Crosby's elite level of talent.

"We got a lot of respect for him," Herbert said . "We know how talented he is, how talented that team is."

Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman isn't concerned about Alt going toe-to-toe with Crosby. After all, Alt was a top pick for a reason and played in many big games at Notre Dame.

Roman doesn't think Alt's "going to be too wide-eyed at anything," and if something negative happens, he can figure out a solution.

"I don't think he's going to blink at anything," Roman said on Thursday. "There's going to be things that come up for everybody. Football is an imperfect game, and you try to be perfect, but there are going to be things that come up, and you got to be able to fix them and move on and adjust."

The Chargers ranked No. 13 in sacks allowed last season with 43. Harbaugh wants pass-protection to be heavily improved upon this year.

"Like Vince Lombardi would say, blocking," Harbaugh said in February. "We gotta protect him."

If the Chargers line protects Herbert against the Raiders and prevents Crosby from getting his hands on their franchise QB, it'll bode well for how successful the unit will be the rest of the season.