The Chargers are at home in SoFi Stadium on Thursday night to host the San Francisco 49ers in Preseason Week Two.
Their joint practice — outside of the deflating injury to center Tyler Biadasz — went rather well for the Chargers who reportedly diced up the Niners defense through most of the day. After hearing how well things were as far as what the Chargers could control on Tuesday, I have my hopes high for another entertaining preseason game.
With that said, here are five Chargers I’m excited to watch
when these two teams take the field Thursday night.
TE Charlie Kolar
Kolar is considered a starter and will likely only play one game, but that small sample size could still be our first look at how Mike McDaniel plans to use him in his offense.
Despite being one of the best run-blocking tight ends in the NFL, Kolar has always had untapped receiving ability that was not often used in Baltimore with both Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely playing on the same offense. But with the Chargers, you can fully expect McDaniel to find a way to utilize his 6’6, 265-pound pass-catcher.
RB Omarion Hampton
Another starter so we will only get one drive, but after seeing Hampton run through the face of multiple 49ers during their joint practice, I am only more hyped to see him back on the field, especially if he plans on doing that some more Thursday night.
Hampton is one of many players we cannot wait to see in McDaniels’ offense, and that goes especially for him as the team’s RB1 in a system that should let him be at his most productive.
CB Eric Rogers
Rogers had a standout preseason as an undrafted rookie that included a two-interception game. He unfortunately wound up injured and placed on season-ending IR prior to final cuts, but the team saw all they needed to in that span to know they wanted to keep him around.
The former Scarlet Knight out of Rutgers has had a quiet camp thus far for the Chargers, but he snatched an interception in the joint practice that was one of the highlights of the session. He’ll need to do that another time or two if he wants to stay in the race for a practice squad spot amongst a cornerback room with tons of potential around him.
D.J. Uiagalelei
After he outperformed Trey Lance against the Texas, I’m ready to see if he can put his stake further into the backup quarterback position with another strong outing against the Niners.
Uiagalelei has been a consistent performer in practice (based on everything we keep hearing out of camp) and it sounds like he’s gotten a bit proficient with the deep ball. Compared to Lance who we often hear about throwing more interceptions than touchdowns during 11-on-11 drills.
DJU should get just as many, if not, more snaps than he received in Houston and I can’t wait to see what he ends up doing with another opportunity.
C Jacob Spomer
Spomer was the highest-graded offensive player for the Chargers that played over 50 snaps against the Texans. His overall grade of 82.0 was otherwise second best on the team behind Kayode Awosika who played just 15 snaps.
Spomer looked poised and under control while playing in his first professional game. He handled stunts well and blocked his tail off, earning the third-highest pass block (82.0) and run block grade (79.7) amongst all players.
Out of nowhere, the Chargers all of a sudden like they may have a little diamond in the rough with Spomer. The former Fresno State Bulldog actually started at left tackle prior to the 2025 season and only played one year of center before signing with the Chargers.
By his Texans film, you would have thought he’d been starting at the pivot for years.
