The Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams will conduct a joint practice Saturday at StubHub Center, the first time the Chargers will be at the stadium where the team is set to play through 2019.
They will “go through its game-day routine and all the things that we’re going to do in the first game,” first-year coach Anthony Lynn said.
The Chargers will open preseason play at StubHub Center Aug. 13 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Both Lynn and his Rams counterpart, Sean McVay, said they are looking forward to good competition.
” I think it will offer a unique opportunity to be able to compete against somebody other than ourselves,” McVay said after Friday’s practice at UC Irvine.
“It’s about that time where camp starts to get a little monotonous, so I think it will be a great opportunity for us to compete against a great team with a lot of good players and really for offense, defense and special teams to see a different system.”
With both teams having about 90 players on their roster, the practice will include simultaneous “red zone” segments on the opposite sides of the field, Lynn said, and conclude with two-minute drills and “some unscripted move the ball stuff,” McVay said.
Admission to the ticketed practice is limited to Chargers season ticket holders and those on the waiting list.
The teams will also conduct a joint practice Wednesday at UC Irvine.
The Chargers released safety Darrell Stuckey Friday after the team’s three-time Special Teams Player of the Year failed his physical.
Stuckey suffered a knee injury in Chargers final game of the 2016 season and had been placed on the physically unable to perform list last Saturday.
Stuckey was the Chargers Special Teams Player of the Year in 2013, 2015 and 2016, played in the Pro Bowl following the 2014 season and was the special teams captain for five seasons.
Stuckey was the Chargers Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2015, recognized for his excellence on and off the field.
The Chargers chose Stuckey in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft out of Kansas. He made 94 tackles and recovered four fumbles in 89 games.
“For the past seven years, Darrell has been a difference maker for our franchise both on and off the field,” general manager Tom Telesco said.
You couldn’t ask for a better person to represent the organization than Darrell, and we want to sincerely thank him not only for what he has meant to the Chargers, but for what he has meant to the community as a whole.”
Stuckey has been involved in the fight against human trafficking, including donating one of his game checks in recent seasons to the nonprofit organization Not For Sale which seeks to protect women and children from trafficking and slavery.
Stuckey sponsors the K.C. United Pop Warner Football League in conjunction with USA Football and conducted football camps at San Diego’s Westview High and Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas.
Cornerback Jason Verrett, who was also placed on the physically unable to perform list last Saturday, passed his physical Friday. Verrett was sidelined for the final 12 games of the 2016 season because of a partially torn ACL he was unable to pinpoint when it occurred.
Verrett was the Chargers Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and played in the Pro Bowl following the season.
The Chargers also waived injured undrafted rookie center Dillon DeBoer (Florida Atlantic) and signed undrafted rookie offensive lineman Barrett Gouger (Vanderbilt).
The 6-foot-4-inch, 310-pound Gouger was the Commodores starting center for all 13 of their games in 2016 and started 10 games at right guard in 2015.
—City News Service