Los Angeles Chargers 53-man roster prediction has big surprise at key position

Entering the offseason, the belief was that Taylor Heinicke would be Justin Herbert's backup once again after serving in that role last season.

However, the Chargers made things interesting when they brought in Trey Lance via free agency to offer more competition for Heinicke.

And, Lance has managed to make things even more interesting by playing well during the preseason and in practice. Lance dazzled in the Hall of Fame Game against the Detroit Lions, completing 13-of-20 passes for 120 yards and two scores.

Lance came back down to earth a bit in the preseason Week 1 game versus the New Orleans Saints, when he completed just 50% of his passes for 55 yards while adding 48 yards and one touchdown on seven carries.

With two exhibition contests in the books, The Athletic's Daniel Popper made a surprise prediction in his 53-man roster projection. Popper not only has Lance making the cut, he has the Chargers cutting Heinicke, also.

"Heinicke brings far more experience. Lance brings far more upside, and he has displayed really sound and consistent decision making, particularly in the preseason games. I think Lance is ahead of Heinicke at this stage of camp," Popper said.

Popper adds that if things play out this way, there's a good chance the Chargers will turn around and try to trade Heinicke, who does have value as a solid backup quarterback.

It is possible the Chargers decide to keep three signal-callers, but Popper doesn't believe they'll do that.

Heinicke played in the preseason Week 1 game against the Saints but didn't fare well, completing just 1-of-5 passes for eight yards, which certainly didn't help his cause.

However, Heinicke still has a massive advantage over Lance with his experience. Heinicke has thrown over 800 more passes than Lance during his career and has already proven to be a reliable backup.

Lance, on the other hand, is still very much a wild card and it's hard to say he'd be an improvement over Heinicke as a backup.

We tend to believe that a team like the Chargers, who are ready to compete for bigger things in 2025, will opt for the more proven player in Heinicke, barring there being a massive difference between the pair.

That said, if Lance can finish the preseason strong, Los Angeles might be able to garner a late-round pick for him if the team decides to keep just two quarterbacks.