There is no gentle way to describe where the Los Angeles Chargers stand five weeks into the 2026 season, as a loss to the Denver Broncos dropped them to 0-5 and into a three-way tie with the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins for the worst record in football.

The defeat compounded an already alarming injury situation, because a team that listed 18 players on its injury report heading into the matchup came out of it without wide receiver Tre Harris and edge rusher Bud Dupree, both of whom went down during the game.

With little reason to believe the Week 6 report will look any healthier, general manager Joe Hortiz and head coach Jim Harbaugh spent the early part of the week bringing in a long line of free agents in search of bodies who can steady a depleted roster.

The most consequential move came at quarterback, where Trey Lance landing on injured reserve after a freak practice injury forced the Chargers to find a new backup.

Jake Browning, who built a reputation in Cincinnati by completing a league-best 70.4 percent of his passes across seven starts in place of Joe Burrow in 2023, earned a contract after impressing the staff in his workout.

His 2025 stint as an emergency starter was far less kind, with eight interceptions against six touchdowns over three games, and he later lost the backup job in Tampa Bay to an undrafted rookie, but his experience was enough to win out over Kyle Trask.

The former second-round pick, once tabbed as Tom Brady’s eventual heir in Tampa, never carved out meaningful playing time, though his 6-foot-5 frame and a respectable preseason with Carolina kept him in the conversation.

Wide receiver drew the most attention, which says plenty about how thin that room has become. JuJu Smith-Schuster headlined the group as a veteran who once eclipsed 1,400 yards in 2018 and has since settled into a steady complementary role, and his 345 receiving yards last season outweigh the combined production of every other player who visited.

He spent the offseason with John Harbaugh in New York before being cut, which makes his visit with the younger Harbaugh brother an interesting family footnote.

Harbaugh’s Michigan ties also brought in Ronnie Bell, who has scored four touchdowns across stops in San Francisco and New Orleans.

Tejhaun Palmer, a former Cardinals sixth-rounder out of UAB who bounced between practice squads before a brief preseason run with New England, and Chris Hilton Jr., an undrafted LSU speedster recently released by both Washington and Green Bay, rounded out a group that reflects how desperate the search has become.

The lone familiar face was Luke Grimm, a reliable slot option and return-touchdown scorer during the last two Chargers preseasons, who landed back on the practice squad.

Cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis completed the list, and his connection to Hortiz dates back to Baltimore, where the Ravens drafted him in the fourth round in 2022 while Hortiz was part of their scouting department.

He started 10 games and made 34 tackles for Tennessee last year before a season-ending injury, which likely explains why he remains available.