The Chargers begin their preseason slate with a road trip to Houston. With the majority of starters expected to sit out, this will be our first look at a lot of the team’s young players. You should not expect a performance for the ages, but predicting one or two players to standout is always worth doing as some of these fringe players really do make or miss the team in these next few weeks.
With that said, here are six Chargers I’ll be watching closely when they take the field against the Texans.
WR Tre’ HarrisHarris played an incredibly unsung role as a rookie for the Chargers. While he finished with just 30 receptions for 324 yards and a touchdown, Harris was instrumental as a run blocker. At 6’3 and 210 pounds, he’s one of the biggest receivers on the team and he played like it when asked to stick his face into a defender.
I would also be remiss not to mention how many clutch plays he came up with for Justin Herbert on third downs and other “gotta have it” moments.
Harris should have a chance at a breakout year as the team’s WR3, but his ability as a blocker will make it incredibly hard for the coaching staff to ever take him off the field.
Being the team’s WR3 behind both Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston means Harris is a fringe-starter and very well could end up sitting out this game. If that’s not the case, I’ll be excited to see just how Harris will be used in Mike McDaniels’ offense, even if it’s a very vanilla version of it.
TRE HARRIS 😱 pic.twitter.com/rgpgVZtsjP
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) August 11, 2026OG/C Jake Slaughter, OG Kayode Awosika, and OT/G Branson TaylorSlaughter has been gaining more and more momentum over the past week in the battle to start at left guard. However, Awosika still seems to be the frontrunner as he’s been in the rotation with the ones just about every single day of camp. It’s only been recently that Slaughter has seen an uptick in his snaps with the ones.
Taylor has also been receiving snaps at left guard and he’s done well enough to push Trevor Penning out of the competition completely. With Slater missing most of the last week, he’s also been receiving snaps at left tackle alongside Trey Pipkins.
From being amongst the final cuts last year as a rookie to pushing for a starting spot in year two, Taylor has seemingly worked his tail off to impress this coaching staff and that alone makes me excited to see him play on Thursday.
Jake Slaughter (I almost died in the making of this) pic.twitter.com/0HGT5Pub1B
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) August 3, 2026EDGE Nadame TuckerEven with the Chargers using a first-round pick on edge rusher Akheem Mesidor, there’s still been plenty of hype around Tucker who wasn’t even amongst the 250+ players drafted this year.
In 2025, Tucker recorded 14.5 sacks to tie David Bailey (2026’s third-overall pick) for the most in the country. He also ended the year with the same tackle for loss total as Mesidor. Tucker is no slouch and his sacks did not count any less just because he was doing it differently than the other high draft picks at the position.
If Tucker can translate his recent success in practice to the field in these next few games, he could very well make the team as the final pass rusher and force the Chargers to keep him away from potential waivers from other teams.
Assistant outside linebackers coach Denzel Martin with Tuli Tuipulotu, Nadame Tucker and Akheem Mesidor pic.twitter.com/AmW3j9Y429
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) August 6, 2026CB Avery SmithSmith spent several seasons learning from current Eagles Pro Bowler Quinyon Mitchell while both were at Toledo and despite going undrafted this year, he’s been showing out in camp on more than one occasion. He’s been sticky against all competition and could very well have just as many standout plays the past two weeks as any other defensive back.
Even with guys like Nikko Reed and Eric Rogers still on the team after their impressive preseasons a year ago, Smith could very break into that group and force the Chargers to make a really tough choice. Which ones do you keep on the final roster and which ones can you risk possibly be claimed off waivers?
All of them will have three opportunities to make their case and it’ll take at least one impressive outing by Smith to make sure that whole conversation gets started in the first place.
Chargers S Derwin James Jr. on UDFA CB Avery Smith: "Confidence, swagger, he's throwing on the seat belt after he makes a play."
"He don't shy away from any competition. Very smart, confident player."
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