Former Florida State QB earns opportunity with NFL team to begin 2025 season

The march towards the NFL regular season is on, with just over a week until the campaign officially kicks off. On Tuesday, teams around the league were forced to cut down to the active roster limit of 53 players.

The next step for franchises is to fill out their respective practice squads. Teams are allowed to have up to 17 players on practice squads to provide developmental opportunities and depth in the event of injuries.

Florida State has 23 players on active rosters to begin the 2025 season. A few others will start the campaign on the practice squad.

Los Angeles Chargers Bring QB DJ Uiagalelei Back To Practice Squad

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Chargers signed former FSU quarterback DJ Uiagalelei to their practice squad, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. This was expected after Uiagalelei displayed some promising flashes in preseason action.

The Chargers cut him on Tuesday as the team only plans to carry two quarterbacks (Justin Herbert, Trey Lance) on their active roster. Uiagalelei will serve as the emergency quarterback on game days, at least, as of right now.

In three preseason games, Uiagalelei completed 19/35 passes for 244 yards with two touchdowns to one interception while adding five rushes for seven yards.

In the Chargers' loss to San Francisco over the weekend, Uiagalelei led the team with 170 passing yards on 16/31 passing. He threw two touchdowns to one interception.

DJ Uiagalelei Is Hoping To Rebound From His 2024 Season At Florida State

Uiagalelei never truly got a chance to display his arm talent at Florida State. He suffered a lower-body injury in preseason camp, which limited his mobility, and his offensive line was arguably the worst in the FBS. Uiagalelei ended up going down with a season-ending injury to his throwing hand before the conclusion of September.

In the end, Uiagalelei completed just 84/156 passes for 1,065 yards with four touchdowns to six interceptions while rushing 37 times for -8 yards. The entire season felt like an avalanche that the Seminoles couldn't climb out of.

Uiagalelei previously played at Clemson and Oregon State. During his college career, he completed 779/1332 passes for 9,384 yards with 61 touchdowns to 30 interceptions. He rushed 380 times for 1,124 yards and 21 more scores.