Chargers reveal why Trey Lance didn’t practice Tuesday despite heated battle

Just when the backup quarterback job behind Justin Herbert appeared to be heating up, the Los Angeles Chargers appeared to shut it down, at least temporarily. 

Tuesday, the Chagers didn’t work Trey Lance in team drills at all, which seemed odd on the heels of his strong pair of preseason performances and (sort of) promotion on the team’s depth chart. 

Instead, all of the work behind Herbert went to Taylor Heinicke, who has had a rough start to his summer during training camp and the two exhibitions. 

According to The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman told reporters that the day’s quarterback usage was about fitting more reps in for Herbert. 

While believable, it also feels like a read-between-the-lines situation. If the Chargers wanted to give Heinicke more chances to prove he can stick in the race as the primary backup, this would be one way to do it. 

On paper, there’s no outright guarantee the Chargers want to keep three quarterbacks on the final 53-man roster, especially when they could stash one on the practice squad. 

Expect to see plenty of Lance over the rest of the month and in the final two preseason games, of course. But also interesting are days like these, where the work split is something coaches can say isn’t a big deal, but certainly could be.