“It Was Kinda Disrespectful”: Justin Herbert Narrates the Incident That Forced Him to Be Chargers’ ‘Chess Guy’

American football’s quarterback is one of the most cerebral positions in all of sports. The mental processing speed, awareness, problem-solving, and memory of a signal caller all have to be elite. That’s why many QBs, including Justin Herbert, gravitate toward the game of chess.

The Los Angeles Chargers signal caller isn’t the only quarterback who enjoys playing chess. Bengals standout Joe Burrow has been public about his rekindled obsession with the game that began during COVID. But Herbert’s interest in the game isn’t casual like Burrow’s. He’s actually a darn good chess player despite picking it up only recently.

Professional chess player and YouTuber Anna Cramling, whose parents were both grandmasters, recently filmed a video with Herbert where they taught each other about their areas of expertise. Herbert revealed he only got serious about playing last year. And the reason shouldn’t be surprising: Competition with a teammate.

“We went on a team trip to Carolina, and we played there and stayed there for a week, and we had a bunch of board games. And one of our players, Rashawn Slater… We were playing, and he beat me really badly [at chess],” Herbert said.

“Slater was like, ‘I don’t wanna play you again, I feel bad.’ It was kind of disrespectful to me. [Smiles] I was like, ‘Okay, now I know what I’m gonna do. I gotta spend the next year preparing and getting better so I can beat him,'” he added.

In the video, Cramling revealed that Herbert not only finished third in this year’s BlitzChamps chess tournament but also holds an impressive 1,300 rating on the popular online platform Chess.com. Herbert then talked about how he improved his game enough to earn a rematch with Slater and get his revenge.

“And I have [beaten him]. I got on chess.com, took all the lessons, [and] went through everything just so that when I played him again, it was gonna go a different way,” the QB said with a laugh.

Herbert and Slater both played in that BlitzChamps tournament this past June, which was the fourth edition of the event. It pits eight current or former NFL players against each other.

Other participants included Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, former CB Richard Sherman, and Saints safety Justin Reid. Herbert’s third-place finish came with a $15k prize for Para Los Niños, an L.A.-based youth organization. Slater finished seventh.

Herbert’s chess prowess shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. He’s always been academically and intellectually inclined.

Back in 2019, he could have left Oregon early and been one of the top selections in that year’s NFL Draft. But instead, he stayed in Eugene for one more year to earn his biology degree. He finished with a 4.01 GPA and even worked as a teaching assistant.

Talk about being blessed with the best of both worlds, physically and mentally.