EL SEGUNDO — After left tackle Rashawn Slater spoke in the spring about the Chargers’ desire for more than just another 11-win season and another AFC wild-card playoff loss, a steady parade of teammates have followed to the podium inside the interview room at the team’s practice facility to say more or less the same things.
Cornerback Tarheeb Still was only the latest to address the issue.
“I feel like the guys always have a sense of urgency to not only chase greatness, but to raise our standards,” Still said Tuesday. “We have to improve because, obviously, after the last two years, guys are chasing improvement, chasing ways to get better than we were in the past. I mean, I just want to win the Super Bowl.”
The Super Bowl is Feb. 14 at SoFi Stadium, the Chargers’ home field.
“So whatever that takes, whatever that looks like, whatever my role is, I’m all for it,” he added.
With the Chargers slogging through Week 0, with the season opener still more than a week away, Still and his teammates have reached the point where they’re beyond ready to actually play in a game that counts, to see whether their work and their words will pay dividends when it gets real Sept. 13.
Connections among the Chargers’ defensive players have been forged and strengthened through another training camp. No one needs to introduce himself to the guy in the next locker stall. They all know each other well. Well, almost all of them know each other. There are a handful of new faces.
“In this league, it’s hard to keep the majority of the guys around,” cornerback Donte Jackson said. “It’s hard to keep the team together. (But) there’s a lot of things that we don’t have to do that other teams that have newer players have to get together, who are adding key pieces to it, who have to build that camaraderie.”
Instead, the Chargers have done all of that already. They know each other well and their families well. They know the names of their teammates’ children. When they talk, it’s often about football, but it’s also about family and life and what’s going on far beyond the field of play. It’s a togetherness that could pay off.
“So, you know, you just skip over that (introductory) part and continue to work towards chemistry that we have and build it more,” Jackson said. “So, I think, just coming into the season with a lot of the same guys, a lot of the same leaders, I think that’s huge. It’s not every team that has a Khalil Mack coming back for another season.”
Mack, a future Hall of Fame outside linebacker, signed a one-season deal worth $18 million in March to play a fifth season with the Chargers, his 13th overall in the NFL. Still is in his third season with the Chargers, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2024. Jackson is in his second year with the Chargers and his ninth overall in the NFL.
EXTRA POINTS
The Chargers signed tight end Patrick Herbert to their practice squad. He is the younger brother of quarterback Justin Herbert and, like his sibling, a former Oregon Duck. The brothers played together during the 2019 season at Oregon. Patrick spent the 2025 season on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad, signing as an undrafted free agent. …
Rookie center Jacob Spomer had a one-word answer when asked about offensive line coach Butch Barry, the Chargers’ most boisterous and entertaining position coach during training camp and so far in Week 0. “Aggressive,” said Spomer, an undrafted free agent from Fresno State. …
Running back Keaton Mitchell worked out on the sideline for the second day in a row during the portion of practice open to reporters. General Manager Joe Hortiz said he didn’t believe Mitchell would need to be placed on injured reserve and that he was working toward playing in the Sept. 13 season opener against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium.