Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh remains undecided about who quarterback Justin Herbert’s backup will be when the regular season starts.
After the Chargers lost to the 49ers on Thursday night, Harbaugh said Trey Lance and DJ Uiagalelei are in a close competition to be QB2, and neither one has done enough to separate himself yet.
“I think it’s tight. I don’t have a definitive status on it right now,” Harbaugh said.
Uiagalelei completed seven of 15 passes for 80 yards, with one touchdown. Lance completed 10 of 16 passes for 73 yards, with no touchdowns. Neither quarterback had a turnover. Lance showed off his tremendous athleticism with a 37-yard run against his former team, but he still looks like a player who relies on his athletic talents and hasn’t learned to be a complete quarterback.
Overall, Harbaugh was just disappointed in the performance of his offense.
“Some good, some of the better plays were called back for illegal formation or two guys in motion, just sloppy pre-snap, post-snap,” Harbaugh said. “Kind of hard to evaluate the quarterbacks when errors are taking place.”
Chargers Clips
Brock Purdy got some playing time against the Chargers on Thursday night.
But the most notable element of his performance was that he got through it without injury.
Purdy played one drive that lasted 12 plays, but it didn’t even get into Los Angeles territory — going from the San Francisco 6-yard line to the 45.
The quarterback completed 4-of-6 passes for 29 yards and also had a 3-yard scramble. He was able to complete a pair of third-down passes, both of which went to rookie De’Zhaun Stribling.
Mac Jones came in to relieve Purdy on San Francisco’s second possession, leading the offense to a scoring drive with Eddy Pineiro’s 48-yard field goal.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was on the field for Thursday night’s preseason game against the 49ers.
But if you blinked, you would’ve missed it.
Herbert’s exhibition debut with Mike McDaniel as his play-caller lasted just three snaps, with the Chargers going three-and-out on their first offensive possession.
Omarion Hampton lost a yard on the first play from scrimmage. Then Herbert completed a 9-yard pass to tight end Charlie Kolar while rolling to his left. But on third-and-2, Herbert’s downfield pass to Ladd McConkey was well off and incomplete.
With the ball at the Los Angeles 43, the club elected to punt.
Trey Lance came in to relieve Herbert at quarterback on the Chargers’ second drive later in the first quarter.
The Chargers signed wide receiver Liam Clifford on Wednesday, the team announced.
In a corresponding move, the Chargers waived wide receiver Luke Grimm with an injury designation.
Clifford entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent this offseason, spending part of camp with the Colts.
He appeared in 52 career games, including 15 starts, in four seasons at Penn State. Clifford made 42 receptions for 530 yards and a touchdown during his time in State College.
Last season, he scored a touchdown on special teams for the Nittany Lions, returning a blocked punt 6 yards for a score at UCLA. Clifford’s brother, Sean, was a 2023 fifth-round draft selection by the Packers and currently plays for the Bengals.
The 49ers will have a representative first unit on the field when they take on the Chargers on Thursday night.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Tuesday that “a number” of starters will play in the contest.
“Not all of them, but I expect a number of starters to play, unlike last week,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “I haven’t told them yet, but they’ll find out soon. But yeah, you guys will see a number out there.”
That could include Brock Purdy, as Shanahan noted he hadn’t told the starting QB yet, but “there’s a good chance.”
The 49ers and Chargers held a joint practice in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
San Francisco’s starters did not play in the club’s preseason opener against Tennessee last week.
Kickoff between the 49ers and Chargers is slated for 10 p.m. ET on Thursday.
There is more information on Chargers center Tyler Biadasz, who suffered a knee injury during Tuesday’s joint practice with the 49ers.
According to a joint report from ESPN and NFL Network, Biadasz is out indefinitely after suffering damage to his ACL and additional injuries to his left knee.
Biadasz is slated to meet with more doctors in an effort to get more clarity.
The Chargers issued a statement on Wednesday morning, saying in part that Biadasz “underwent imaging later in the day [on Tuesday] and is currently in the process of gathering additional opinions.”
The injury to Biadasz is a significant blow to a Chargers unit that brought in the veteran center to beef up the interior of the offensive line. Los Angeles signed him to a three-year, $30 million contract in early March.
Originally a fourth-round pick by the Cowboys in 2020, Biadasz was a Pro Bowler for Dallas in 2022. He spent the last two seasons with the Commanders, starting 31 games for the club.
The 49ers’ offense wasn’t up to par in their joint practice against the Chargers’ defense on Tuesday.
That’s the word from 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who said afterward that he was disappointed in the offense’s performance.
“Honestly, I don’t think it was our best day,” Purdy said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “Feel like fundamentals and stuff were just a little off and whatnot. . . . Just feel like we could have came out with a little bit more chip on our shoulder offensively.”
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan also wasn’t thrilled with how his offense looked.
“I liked it a little more at first, and then didn’t like it as much later,” Shanahan said of the offense. “I thought we struggled a little bit in the move-the-ball periods. Didn’t score in the two-minute [drill]. So there were some ups and downs, but I didn’t really like how we finished today.”
The 49ers will meet the Chargers in a preseason game on Thursday night.
Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston limped off the field during Tuesday’s joint practice with the 49ers, but it does not sound like there’s long-term concern about his fitness.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Johnston is not expected to miss much, if any, practice time as a result and he quotes a source who said Johnston is “totally fine.”
The Chargers plan to play their starters for one series against the 49ers on Thursday night, but Johnston could be held out if there’s any doubt about that assessment.
Chargers center Tyler Biadasz was also injured during Tuesday’s practice and he needed to be carted off the field. There has been no update on his condition at this point.
Both the 49ers and Chargers have seen wide receivers leave Tuesday’s joint practice early.
Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com reports that 49ers wideout Mike Evans had his left ankle/foot wrapped and iced before the session came to an end while multiple reporters noted that Chargers receiver Quentin Johnston limped off of the field. Evans missed a good chunk of camp with a quad injury before returning to the field in the last week.
Chargers center Tyler Biadasz was carted off with an apparent leg injury during the workout as well.
The two teams will face each other in a preseason game on Thursday night and both sides will be hoping that there’s no further additions to the injury list before the week is out.
The Chargers saw one of their starting offensive linemen go down with an injury on Tuesday.
Per multiple reports, center Tyler Biadasz had to leave the team’s joint practice with the 49ers on a cart. Reporters at the workout say that Biadasz appeared to suffer a leg injury when a 49ers defender fell on him during 11-on-11 work.
There’s no word on the severity of the injury at this point, but the prospect of losing a blocker during the summer will bring back unhappy memories of left tackle Rashawn Slater’s season-ending injury ahead of last season. The Chargers later lost their other starting tackle Joe Alt during the regular season and protection was a problem throughout the year.
It’s too early to know if the Chargers will be scrambling again this year, but signing Biadasz was a big part of their plan to avoid similar problems so there will be a lot of fingers crossed until more is known about the severity of the injury.
