Jim Harbaugh did a magnificent job as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in his first year in 2024, and there is little doubt he will have the team as a regular top competitor soon. But he and general manager Joe Hortiz have made some strange decisions at the backup quarterback spot.
Last year, the team chose to stick with Easton Stick for as long as possible despite his lackluster play that didn't even look worthy of a spot on the practice squad.
Much of that seems to be a high level of confidence in Justin Herbert, but when he was banged up early in training camp last year, the team should have placed more focus on the backup spot. It wasn't until after the preseason, when they traded for Taylor Heinicke, that a good decision was made.
Heinicke is still on the roster as the backup to Herbert, but this summer, the team also has Trey Lance and D.J. Uiagalelei on the roster. At one time, these two players were expected to be two of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. Instead, the question of whether or not they even belong in the NFL is a legitimate one.
Starting with Lance, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, who is on his third NFL team in four years. The San Francisco 49ers gave up their first-round pick in that draft as well as first and third-round picks in 2022 and a first-round pick in 2023 to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for that No. 3 pick. It is easily the worst move made by John Lynch in his tenure as the 49ers' general manager.
When Lance was beaten out by Brock Purdy, a seventh-round pick, he was washed out of San Francisco and landed with the Dallas Cowboys, where he was never any better than the third quarterback on the roster.
Trey Lance career stats
| Starts | Completion % | Passing Yards | TDs | INTs | QB rating |
| 5 | 56.6 | 1,063 | 5 | 4 | 80.3 |
Uiagalelei was considered the prototypical prospect. At 6-foot-4, he had the size and scouts said he had the arm to go with it. That helped make him a five-star recruit who went to Clemson to sit behind Trevor Lawrence, one of the best players in school history. He was pegged to pick up right where Lawrence left off, but that didn't come close to happening.
Uiagalelei then transferred to Oregon State for the 2023 season before going to Florida State ahead of the 2024 season.
FSU went 13-1 the previous season and was in contention for a national championship. It seemed that Uiagalelei was hoping to ride that wave of momentum in his final year of eligibility but he looked terrible against Georgia Tech in the first college football game of the 2024 season and it never got better.
D.J. Uiagalelei college stats
| Starts | Completion % | Passing Yards | TDs | INTs | QB Rating |
| 45 | 58.5 | 9,384 | 61 | 30 | 128.4 |
You might look at those numbers and think they don't look bad, but if you watched him play, you know that he was an average quarterback, at best. If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't have gone undrafted. He also posted those numbers against far inferior competition to what he will face in the NFL.
Uiagalelei lacks the tools to be successful at the NFL level. Though he is a big, athletic player, he doesn't make good decisions and is unable to properly read defenses, making him prone to costly errors. His downfield accuracy is also sub-par. In fact, he's the kind of player who should be talked into trying a different position if he wants to make it in the NFL, but we'll see what he has to offer this summer.
As for Lance, there is no more intrigue; he's just not a good NFL quarterback and should have never been drafted as highly as he was, and that is really the only reason he's still in the league. Some team wants to be able to squeeze something out of a guy who went No. 3 overall, but don't expect that to be the Chargers or anyone else.
It will be interesting to see which of the two players has a better summer for the team and theoretically wins the QB3 job, but that should lead to nothing more than a spot on the practice squad as the team's emergency QB and even then, better options may surface on the waiver wire after other teams in the league trim their rosters down to 53 players.
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