The Chargers will get to work with the 49ers at a joint practice on Tuesday, but that won’t be the only action their starters get in a competitive setting this week.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters at a press conference that the team’s starters will also take part in Thursday’s preseason game between the teams. Harbaugh said that the plan is for quarterback Justin Herbert and other starters to play one series before heading to the bench.
It’s a similar approach to the one that Harbaugh took with the Chargers last summer. That marked the first time that Herbert ever played in the preseason as COVID, coaching decisions and a foot injury kept him off the field in previous exhibition games.
The big difference this year is that it will be the first chance to see Herbert operating offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s scheme in a game setting. McDaniel said Monday that the goal is for the offense to produce “Year 2 results in Year 1” and Thursday will bring a chance to see how close they are to that level.
Chargers Clips
The Giants are bringing in a veteran running back.
Najee Harris has agreed to a one-year deal with New York, according to NFL Network.
Harris took a visit with the club on Monday.
The No. 24 overall pick of the 2021 draft, Harris suffered a torn Achilles while playing for the Chargers last season. He appeared in just three games before his injury.
Harris recorded at least 1,000 yards rushing in each of his first four seasons with the Steelers. In 2024, he tallied 1,043 yards with six touchdowns and caught 36 passes for 283 yards.
On Monday, head coach John Harbaugh told reporters Harris looked good in his workout.
“You know, he’s not back 100 percent,” Harbaugh said in his press conference. “He’s not in football shape yet. So, if we are able to do something, it’ll be a process. But that would be a guy that has got a lot of experience. He’s a decorated vet. And with those guys, generally, you just have to kind of see where they’re at when you get them.”
With the club and player coming to an agreement, Harris now has a chance to show how productive he can be in the NFC East in 2026.
Mike McDaniel was hired as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator for the 2026 season with a simple goal in mind.
Justin Herbert has not won a playoff game in his six seasons as the team’s starting quarterback and the team wants to maximize the window of opportunity that they believe having a quarterback like Herbert has given the organization. McDaniel’s history says that it usually takes a couple of years for his offensive philosophy to result in major success, but this is a different situation for McDaniel and he said on Monday that his goal is to have “Year 2 results in Year 1.”
McDaniel has hope that can happen because Herbert is “far past” where other quarterbacks have been at this point in the process. He credited Herbert with “intentionally working at the craft every day” to set himself up for immediate success in the offense.
“He’s been everything that I’d hoped and more in that regard,” McDaniel said. “We’re just finding different things to add to his game each and every day to put the best foot forward in Week 1.”
The depth of the AFC West and the AFC in general means that the Chargers will need to be firing on all cylinders out of the gate to make it back to the playoffs. McDaniel’s comments on Monday suggest Herbert is positioned to do that and the focus will then move to sustaining a high level of play all the way into the postseason.
Another veteran receiver who had been available for months in free agency has found a new home.
Via Jordan Schultz, Keenan Allen has agreed to terms with the Colts. It’s reportedly a one-year deal worth up to $8.32 million.
A third-round pick in 2013, Allen has played for the Chargers for 11 years, the Bears for one year, and the Chargers again in 2025. He has 1,055 career regular-season catches for 12,051 yards and 70 touchdowns.
Allen finished second in the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting, and he has made it to the Pro Bowl six times — most recently in 2023.
He joins a depth chart that includes Alec Pierce (who remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list with an ankle injury), Josh Downs, Ashton Dulin, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Anthony Gould, and Laquon Treadwell.
Allen’s time with the Chargers overlapped with Colts coach Shane Steichen, who worked in various roles with the Chargers from 2014 through 2020.
Backup quarterback Davis Mills was expected to play only one series in Thursday night’s preseason opener for the Texans.
Indeed, he left after throwing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jared Wayne, capping an 11-play, 75-yard drive on the Texans’ first drive.
Third-stringer Graham Mertz replaced Mills when the Texans got the ball back with 52 seconds left in the first quarter. The plan was for Mertz to finish the game, but on the final play from scrimmage in the first half, Mertz left with an injury.
He grabbed his knee after a 9-yard scramble.
Mills returned to the game to start the second half and likely will have to finish the game as the Texans do not have a fourth quarterback.
The Texans recently worked out quarterbacks Seth Henigan and Jake Haener.
The Chargers lead 13-7.
The NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court of arbitration continues to crumble.
On Wednesday, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles found that an arbitration clause used by the Rams is unconscionable and, in turn, unenforceable.
The dispute arose from a lawsuit filed by Brittany Todd against the Rams. She claims that her March 10, 2026 termination happened after she complained that her immediate supervisors were consuming alcohol during work hours “to the point of extreme intoxication,” that they coerced subordinate employees to consume alcohol, that they berated employees “to an abusive level” after becoming intoxicated, and that they berated employees for their religious views.
The Rams filed a motion to compel arbitration. The court rejected the motion.
The arbitration agreement used by the Rams gives the NFL Commissioner, or his designee, the exclusive power to resolve the case, including the threshold question of whether the dispute is “football-related.”
The court found that reliance on an arbitrator who is employed by the NFL, which represents the 32 member teams, makes the agreement unconscionable.
It’s the third ruling in recent months invalidating the NFL’s arbitration provisions. Unlike the Jon Gruden and Brian Flores cases, however, the Todd case did not involve the NFL as a party to the litigation.
Todd’s lawyer, Mike Caspino, applauded the decision.
“We are happy that our client will be able to have her day in court,” Caspino said in a statement provided to PFT. “We are also happy that all of the employees of the 49ers, Chargers and Rams will no longer be subjected to the NFL’s biased arbitration system.”
The tide seems to be turning sharply against the NFL’s effort to serve as judge and jury in cases filed against the league and its teams. And to that we say, “It’s about damn time.”
It was never fair for the league to handle the lawsuits filed against the NFL and its teams. And the league should have never tried to even do it. After years of pulling it off, the courts are finally tearing it down.
The Patriots made a change to their running back group on Wednesday.
They announced the signing of Hassan Haskins to the active roster. Myles Montgomery was waived with an injury designation in a corresponding move.
Haskins’s last game in the NFL came against the Patriots as he was a member of the Chargers in their playoff loss in New England last season. Haskins spent the last two seasons playing for his college coach Jim Harbaugh in Los Angeles and ran 51 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
The Titans drafted Haskins in the fourth round in 2022 when Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was still in Tennessee. He ran 25 times for 93 yards as a rookie, but spent the 2023 season on injured reserve.
Tuesday’s announcement that Kyler Murray will be Minnesota’s starting quarterback means that 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy won’t be.
What else does it mean for McCarthy?
He’ll speak to reporters on Wednesday. Everything he says, and doesn’t say, will be scrutinized. What he says and does away from the cameras and microphones will be far more important.
Will McCarthy willingly accept his new role? Will he bristle about it? Will he make snide comments to teammates, sowing potential dissension and discord?
Will he want out?
Although card-carrying Michigan man Adam Schefter is being justifiably dragged for carrying McCarthy’s water, Schefter’s pro-McCarthy take carries a distinct message: McCarthy, whether he admits it or not, likely wants out.
We caught a whiff of that vibe a year ago, when the Vikings were considering veteran options to pair with a roster into which the team had poured plenty of cash. If Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones had stayed, or if Aaron Rodgers had arrived, McCarthy possibly would have asked to be traded.
Now, after 10 games, McCarthy is being relegated to the bench. Although he won his final four starts in 2025, McCarthy finished the year with 11 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions, and a passer rating of 72.6.
It wasn’t good enough to get the Vikings to not pursue a veteran in 2026. To acquire Murray with a hint that it was his job to lose from the get-go. And to eventually make Murray the starter, despite the fact that the Vikings traded up from No. 11 to No. 10 to get “Nine” only two years ago.
The literal ball is out of McCarthy’s hands. But the figurative ball is now in his court. Will he ask to be traded?
Even if he does, who will trade for him? On one hand, his pay for the next two years is favorable. After receiving a $1.7 million roster bonus, he’s owed only $1.075 million in salary. Next year, he’ll make $3.775 million. On the other hand, there’s currently no obvious spot.
If his former Michigan coach loves McCarthy as much as he claims to, the Chargers and Jim Harbaugh could trade for McCarthy and make him the backup to Justin Herbert, bumping Trey Lance down a spot — or off the roster altogether. For the other L.A. team, where the Rams have no current backup to Matthew Stafford who has played in a regular-season game, McCarthy becomes a more affordable alternative to Jimmy Garoppolo.
The more likely outcome is that McCarthy and the Vikings will wait for a potential opportunity arising from an injury before the Tuesday after Week 9. If it never comes, McCarthy could remain in Minnesota for the full season, waiting for a chance to play if Murray is injured.
Regardless, it’s a setback for McCarthy. And the Vikings have chosen not to try to justify the 2024 draft-pick investment at the risk of not being a contender in 2026.
Pro football is the ultimate meritocracy. Nothing is given to anyone. Everything must be earned. McCarthy’s best play will be to not behave as if he was entitled to be the starter this year — and to focus on improving his skills and abilities in a way that will give him a chance to get back on the field again, in Minnesota or elsewhere.
But here’s the thing to remember. Although Schefter has already compared McCarthy to other first-round picks who found success in their second (or third . . . or fourth) career stops, those players were drafted by chronically dysfunctional franchises without a head coach who has shown that he can get the most out of the talent the quarterback possesses.
As to McCarthy, some may conclude that, if O’Connell can’t get him to play consistently at a high level, no one can.
Chargers left tackle Rashawn Slater missed his fourth straight practice on Tuesday and the reason for it involves his surgically repaired left knee.
Slater tore his patellar tendon in practice a little over a year ago and he told reporters on Tuesday that he has been out since last week because of a flare-up in the same knee. Trey Pipkins and Branson Taylor have seen increased reps at left tackle with Slater out of practice.
Slater said he doesn’t know when he’ll be back on the field and called the absence part of the process of getting where he needs to be for the start of the regular season
“Nothing crazy,” Slater said, via Kris Rhim of ESPN.com. “Nothing that’s concerning.”
The longer it takes before Slater’s back on the field, the likelier it is that others will start to have some concern about his availability in September.
Last month, former NFL defensive end and former ESPN/Fox broadcaster Marcellus Wiley was arrested in Florida for domestic violence. Via TMZ, the charges have now been dropped.
In court documents, prosecutors informed the court that the case would not proceed, explaining that “testimonial evidence received is not corroborated by any physical or other evidence and is therefore insufficient to obtain a conviction.”
Wiley’s wife, Annemarie, claimed that Wiley had used “one finger to sternly and intentionally poke her in the cheek.”
Annemarie Wiley thereafter filed for divorce and applied for a restraining order, accusing him of past instances of physical abuse and rape. Marcellus Wiley strongly denied the allegations.
On Twitter, Marcellus Wiley celebrated the latest development. “Welcome to the Real HouseLies of Annemarie,” he said, among other things.
The simple truth as to criminal cases is that most prosecutors won’t proceed unless they believe the evidence supports a finding of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. With no physical evidence or injury and no corroboration of her claims, it would be very difficult (if not impossible) to get a jury to find that her allegations and his denial combine to satisfy the very high burden of proof.
Wiley spent 10 years in the NFL, playing for the Bills, Chargers, Cowboys, and Jaguars. He worked for ESPN through 2018, and he then worked at Fox Sports until 2022.
