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The last time Easton Stick started a non-exhibition football game was January 5, 2019.
That afternoon in Frisco, Texas, Steck led North Dakota State to its second straight FCS national championship. The Bison beat Eastern Washington 38-24. Stick, then 23, had five touchdowns. He threw for 198 yards and added 121 yards on the ground.
Stick is 28 years old now. He is in his fifth season in the NFL. To be precise, it’s been 1,804 days since Stick last started a meaningful football match. Nearly five years of waiting and working, working and waiting for his chance to come. The Los Angeles Chargers drafted Stick in the fifth round in 2019. He sat under Philip Rivers, Tyrod Taylor, Justin Herbert, and Chase Daniel. He didn’t even become the Chargers’ No. 2 quarterback until this year. A college star forced into the background due to circumstances.
Thursday night on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders, Stick will make his first career NFL regular season start.
“When they picked me five years ago, this is what you wanted as a kid,” Steck said this week. “A chance to go play.”
This shipping season has hit bottom. They have almost no chance of making the playoffs. Herbert suffered a fracture in his right index finger and underwent season-ending surgery on Tuesday.
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For Stick, the rest of this season will be crucial to her career. He has four games to show the league what he is capable of as a midfielder at this level. If he plays well, he could have a chance to compete for a starting job elsewhere in 2024. At the very least, he could make more money for himself.
Five years of toiling behind the scenes for four matches.
“He’s working hard this offseason on his game to get where he wants to be,” said Shane Day, who spent two seasons as Stick’s quarterbacks coach with the Chargers in 2021-22. “Not being able to actually use those skills in a real game, it kills him as a competitor. We all know Easton is the ultimate contender, and he hasn’t been able to play for (five) years in a meaningful role.”
“To come out and play quarterback and show all the things he’s working on, it means everything to him.”
Steck had to put in the work both mentally and physically to get to this place in his career. He was inactive for all 16 games as a rookie. He played just two offensive snaps in 2020 and was inactive in nine of 16 games. He was inactive for 16 of 17 games in 2021 and 2022.
Steck won 49 games in college. When he reached the pros, his daily playing experiences often consisted of dressing in street clothes and wearing a headset. On most Sundays, Stick’s pre-game practices were as close to game time as possible.
He played in the preseason, though there were bumps along that road. The 2020 preseason was canceled due to COVID-19. Stick attempted just one in-game pass over two years from 2019-21, with the preseason and regular season combined. He played in training camp and training. In 2019, he also worked with the defense in practice at safety when the Chargers were dealing with on-site injuries. This year, Stick has been running the scout team’s offense, which tries to resemble the opposition during practice week.
Steck still finds ways to contribute, and not just in the film room with Herbert. Day recalls having regular conversations with Stick on the sidelines during games in 2021 and 2022. After a series, Day was reviewing film clips with Herbert. Day then interrogates Stick, who often had suggestions.
“Hey, don’t forget this play,” Steck was like.
“Hey, remember that play we were talking about on Wednesday?” The stick will say.
Day said he would relay Stick’s recommendations to offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, who called the plays from the booth.
“Conversations and collaboration around what the defense was doing in the game, remembering the game plan and helping me as a coach implement that,” Day said.
However, Stick only had a few opportunities to develop his game between pre-season and practices. He had to carve out his own time.
Most quarterbacks take a break from throwing after the season in January and February to recover. No stick. He returned to the Chargers facility immediately and began working the outside.
His primary goal was to improve his arm strength. Steck admitted this week that he was “probably a little behind” in that area when he arrived in the league.
“I didn’t grow up with a quarterback coach,” Steck said. “At North Dakota State, we ran the football a lot. We were in the quarterback running game. … I put in a lot of work.
This job came during those periods when almost everyone was turning away from football. Instead, Stick was digging deeper.
He was working on his mechanics. He drilled his movement over and over again to create more power in his transition and hone his accuracy.
“He’s a gym rat,” coach Brandon Staley said.
His arm strength has improved dramatically as a result, which he put on full display in the second half Sunday when he connected with rookie receiver Quentin Johnston on a 57-yard touchdown.
Steck maintained his work ethic throughout the season. According to Day, when practice ended, Stick stayed on the field to do extra work with some of the backup receivers and tight ends, and made every throw Herbert made in practice.
“He worked hard to make sure that when the opportunity came, he would be ready for it,” Day said.
Stick was always a smart player. This was a big reason why he was drafted in 2019.
“His film study and all that stuff is top-notch, as good as I’ve ever been,” said Day, who is now a senior offensive assistant with the Houston Texans coaching rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Stick has upped this part of his game. He can always work before the snap. Over his two seasons in Los Angeles, Day saw Stick grow in his ability to read and respond after the snap, an essential part of quarterback play in the league. And that continued this season.
“After the shot, he can see the field, which is important,” Staley said this week. “There are a lot of people who can watch the game before the snap, but once the ball is snapped, how does it play? He has good instincts.”
Stick has combined arm strength and tackling development with the attributes that made him a draft pick in 2019, primarily his athleticism and ability to create plays off the schedule, both as a runner and a thrower.
“Part of the mental and physical response, he was able to do both at the same time,” Day said.
Finally, Stick will have a chance to measure his progress — during 1,804 days of work and development, hours after practice and on the field in January when everyone was on vacation.
Of sweat, determination and time that is invisible to those on the outside.
“That’s what he likes,” Day said. “He loves competing.”
His moment has arrived.
“I know I got better,” Steck said. “I think it is what it is. I know it here. We spend a lot of time here. Obviously it’s different. You’re going out there and it matters. It doesn’t matter. It means a lot to a lot of people. So I’m excited about that.”
(Top image: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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