Trey Lance Wins Backup QB Job Over Uiagalelei
Trey Lance held off DJ Uiagalelei for the No. 2 quarterback job as the Chargers close a 1-2 preseason with Herbert sharp, Quentin Johnston explosive and an undrafted rookie forcing a real roster call.
Trey Lance wins the No. 2 job, DJ Uiagalelei doesn't
The last audition didn't even go Lance's way. Uiagalelei outplayed him in Thursday's finale against the Rams, going 11 of 18 for 141 yards and nearly rallying the Chargers on a fourth-quarter drive before he was sacked and fumbled it away — good enough that Pro Football Talk flagged him as the sharper arm in the final preseason test. Lance, by contrast, played one series, missed on both his throws and took a sack of his own.
DJ Uiagalelei outplays Trey Lance in final preseason test for Chargers' backup QBs. t.co/5moViLkOYA
It didn't matter. When the Chargers trimmed to 53, they kept just two quarterbacks, and it was Lance — the former No. 3 overall pick who backed up Justin Herbert last season too — who survived, while both Uiagalelei and Taylor Heinicke were released, per CBS Sports. Uiagalelei landed right back on the practice squad, which keeps him in the building without a spot on the 53.
So Herbert's backup for 2026 is settled, and it's the guy who arguably had the worse camp finale. That says more about a three-year body of work than one August night, and it's Lance's job to hold onto now.
Herbert and Johnston connect for 65 yards, then the offense goes quiet
Justin Herbert's preseason ended the way you'd want a starter's to: two completions on three attempts for 74 yards and a touchdown before he got pulled and the backups took over a 20-18 loss to the Rams on Thursday. The touchdown was a 65-yarder to Quentin Johnston, who beat his man for the only real explosive play the Chargers offense produced all night — Jim Harbaugh's sideline reaction was "Wow. Double wow," and the club's own account is still replaying the clip.
Rams18-20
49ers17-41
Texans27-7Everything after that was thinner. Ladd McConkey played three snaps and didn't touch the ball. Charlie Kolar caught his one target for nine yards, KeAndre Lambert-Smith caught his lone target for 21, and Omarion Hampton got four snaps and nothing else — a night for Herbert's actual weapons to watch from the sideline, with Tre' Harris and Keaton Mitchell held out entirely.
them: "how many times have u watched this?" me: yes. t.co/RrOYhj0TpX
None of it means anything on the scoreboard — the Chargers are 1-2 in the preseason, and Harbaugh said afterward the team did "many good things" even in the loss. What it does mean is Herbert looked sharp in his one series, and that was always the only preseason line that mattered.
An undrafted rookie just made the roster meeting harder
Nobody circled Greg Desrosiers Jr. on the depth chart in July. On Thursday, the undrafted rookie out of Memphis turned nine carries into 118 yards and a touchdown against the Rams, adding a catch and a 29-yard kickoff return for good measure — the kind of line that turns a camp body into a name people are arguing about, and the club's own account leaned into it, posting that the "rookie balled out in the preszn."
rookie balled out in the preszn t.co/mTTWzwT8nK
Harbaugh wasn't shy about it either: "He was great. We really like him," he said. Desrosiers himself framed it plainly afterward — "my job was to make it hard for them," he said, according to Yahoo Sports — in a backfield that already has Omarion Hampton, Kimani Vidal and Keaton Mitchell on it.
It worked. Yahoo Sports reports a minor injury to Mitchell has opened a real path for Desrosiers to make the 53, turning an afterthought into a genuine roster decision the Chargers didn't expect to be making this week.
A Cardinals team rebuilding at quarterback comes to SoFi
The Chargers open the regular season Sunday afternoon vs. the Cardinals at SoFi Stadium, and the opponent looks little like the one that finished 3-14 a year ago. Arizona moved on from Kyler Murray in the offseason — he's since resurfaced as Minnesota's Week 1 starter — and enters with a rebuilt quarterback room under new coach Mike LaFleur, according to NFL.com. The Cardinals went 1-3 in the preseason and are coming off a 38-42 loss at the Packers.
The Chargers, by contrast, are favored, with the line opened at Chargers -10.5 and the total set at 46.5 — a middling number for a game where the home team is expected to do most of the scoring. Whether that gap is real or just a reflection of Arizona's turnover at the sport's most important position is the whole question of the opener.
Kickoff is Sunday, September 13 at 1:25 p.m., and it will be the first count that actually goes on Justin Herbert's record this year.