With Justin Herbert out for the rest of the season with a fractured index finger, the Los Angeles Chargers will finish the 2023 regular season with a quarterback who has never started an NFL game before: Easton Stick.
Stick came in relief for the injured Herbert in the Week 14 loss to the Denver Broncos, and it was the most time the four-year NFL veteran had been in the field of a regular season game. Now with Herbert as the latest starting quarterback out for the season, Stick will start his first game since winning an FCS championship in the 2018-2019 season.
‘I’m just going to go out there and play,’ Stick told the Los Angeles Times. ‘There’s going to be good and there’s going to be bad. … That’s just part of it. It’s football. It’s not perfect. I’m just going to go out there and do my best.’
Here’s what to know about the Chargers quarterback ahead of ‘Thursday Night Football’ matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders:
Where is Easton Stick from?
Stick was born in Omaha, Nebraska, where he attended Creighton Preparatory School.
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Easton Stick was college teammates with Carson Wentz and Trey Lance
North Dakota State has become a quarterback factory for the NFL draft, as Stick began his career with the Bison as a redshirt quarterback in 2014 behind starter Carson Wentz.
Stick saw his first college action in 2015, as he stepped into the starting role for Wentz after he suffered a broken wrist. After the Bison started the season 4-2, Stick went 8-0 as the starter and guided North Dakota State to another national championship game appearance. Wentz came back for the title game, which North Dakota State won to win a record five-straight national championships.
In Stick’s senior season, one of his backups was Trey Lance, who wound up being the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Easton Stick’s FCS records
Stick was a dominant force for North Dakota State in three full seasons as the starting quarterback. He finished his college career 49-3, the most wins by a quarterback in FCS history. He was also the starter when North Dakota State beat the then-No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes in 2016.
The Bison won the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship in all five seasons he was on the roster, and he was part of four national championship teams, being the starting quarterback for the title teams in 2016 and 2017. He was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2018 national championship game.
He finished his college career with 8,693 passing yards with 88 passing touchdowns, both of which are North Dakota State career records. Stick also had 41 rushing touchdowns in his college career.
When was Easton Stick drafted?
Stick was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers as the 166th overall pick (fifth round) in the 2019 NFL draft.
Easton Stick’s NFL stats
Stick hasn’t seen much time on the field in his NFL career besides preseason games, as he was behind Philip Rivers and Tyrod Taylor his rookie season, and was behind Taylor and newly-drafted Justin Herbert to start the 2020 season.
However, he saw his first action in a 2020 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, coming in for two plays in the first quarter of the game. He completed a pass to Mike Williams for four yards on one of the plays.
Since then, Stick didn’t come in to a game for Herbert as Chase Daniels served as the backup in 2021-22. After Daniels retired at the end of last season, Stick became the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart. His first action of the season came against the Broncos when Herbert was injured. He finished the game 13-for-24 with 183 yards in the 24-7 loss.
Now, Stick will start his first game since Jan. 5, 2019, when he led North Dakota State to a 38-24 in the FCS national championship game against Eastern Washington.