LA Chargers: Players to pay more attention to during Thursday scrimmage

The LA Chargers have a scrimmage at SoFi Stadium on Thursday.

UPDATE: The LA Chargers canceled Thursday’s scrimmage.

Fans will get their first look at the LA Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Thursday as the team gears up for an intrasquad scrimmage of sorts.

This will be televised on NFL Network at 12 p.m. PDT. It is unlikely that the Chargers show the entire blue and white scrimmage on television, as there are some things that will need to be worked out behind closed doors without giving other teams potential film.

Fans will also get an in-depth look at the practice next Tuesday on HBO’s “Hard Knocks”. The Rams’ scrimmage got quite a bit of run-time in this week’s episode and the Chargers surely will as well.

While these scrimmages aren’t necessarily that serious, there are certain players that we should be paying attention to.

LA Chargers to pay close attention to in the blue and white scrimmage:

Justin Herbert:

Justin Herbert is not the starting quarterback of the LA Chargers in 2020 and likely will not start a single game for the Bolts this season. However, he will undoubtedly get some reps with both the first and second-team and this will be our first look at him at somewhat NFL speed.

Granted, he will not be sacked but he will get pressure coming at him and he does have to go up against a top-tier NFL defense. It will be very interesting to see where he is at right now and how high his ceiling may be.

Sam Tevi:

Sam Tevi… the left tackle that Charger fans did not want. Tevi is currently in the driver’s seat for the starting left tackle position and I would keep a very keen eye on him in this contest.

How is he blocking? How is he fairing against elite talent in Melvin Ingram? What about lesser pass-rush talent (but solid run defense) in Uchenna Nwosu? Is he still the same Sam Tevi? If so, the Chargers are in trouble.

Jalen Guyton/Joe Reed/Tyron Johnson/K.J. Hill:

There was already a WR3 battle on the LA Chargers and with Mike Williams potentially missing games in September there will be a WR2 battle as well. It will be very interesting to see which of the four receivers is used on the outside compared to the slot and who looks like the frontrunners to start in Week 1.

My money is on Joe Reed. He’s got a great last name. Great initials, too.

Tyrod Taylor:

Obviously. He is the starting quarterback of this team and the success of the team falls largely on his shoulders. Not only will it be intriguing to see how he looks with the weapons on the team but it will be interesting to see how he counters a really good defense and how the offensive gameplan has changed.

Of course, you also have the rookies such as Kenneth Murray and Joshua Kelley to watch as this will be our first real peek into them on the Chargers. There is also new additions like Linval Joseph and Chris Harris that Charger fans have to get acquainted with as well.