Did Easton Stick do enough in final preseason game to stay with Chargers?

The Los Angeles Chargers concluded their 2024 preseason on Saturday with a 26-19 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. One of the top stories going into the game was that Easton Stick would play the entire game, looking to prove to the coaching staff that he should still be the team’s backup quarterback.

With the plantar fascia injury that Justin Herbert has and could be dealing with all season, this position has been put under a microscope this summer. Stick had struggled this preseason and in many ways, was outplayed by the other quarterback on the roster, Luis Perez.

So the Cowboys game was big for Stick. Let’s look at how it went for him and his chances of making the final 53-man roster.

Easton Stick has one big play but not much else vs. Cowboys

Leading 7-3 as the second quarter started, Stick dialed up this 78-yard touchdown pass to Simi Fehoko.

EASTON STICK TO SIMI FEHOKO. 78-YARD TD.

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— NFL (@NFL) August 24, 2024

That was probably the highlight of Stick’s Chargers career to this point. But when you look at the fact that Stick only threw for 187 yards in this game, that play accounted for nearly 42 percent of his total output. In addition, Stick completed just 12 of 29 passes (41.3 percent) and threw an interception.

Stick threw an interception in all three of the team’s preseason games, leaving his final preseason stat line looking like this:

2024 Preseason (3 games)	Completions	Attempts	Comp. %	TDs	INTs	QB Rating
Easton Stick	25	55	45.4	1	3	46.3

Those are just not the numbers that suggest a good or even decent NFL quarterback. Stick has been with the Chargers since 2019 but he wasn’t pressed into meaningful action in that time until last season when Herbert suffered a finger injury.

The Chargers will look much different with Jim Harbaugh as head coach and to his credit, Harbaugh has given Stick every chance to remain with the team. But there will be other options available via trade or waivers after teams around the league make their roster cuts and it seems unlikely that the front office won’t favor at least one of those over Stick.