Justin Herbert Delivers Wake-Up Call to Patrick Mahomes And Baker Mayfield With Fewer Interceptions

The Los Angeles Chargers were forced to be conservative with quarterback Justin Herbert at the start of the season. The plantar fascia issue the signal-caller picked up in training camp hampered him through the first month of the 2024 campaign. That said, he still managed to outdo Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield among others. Things look even better now.

In his opening four games, Herbert threw just 578 yards. As the season gathered steam, he seems to have settled in. He crossed the 200 passing-yard threshold in his last four games, including this evening, where he completed 66.7% of his passes (18/27) for 282 yards and two touchdowns. This performance powered the Chargers to a 27-10 road win over the Cleveland Browns.

As per CBS Sports, Herbert has the fewest interceptions (1 – Week 2) among quarterbacks to start every game.

While Herbert is on the low end, three of the NFL’s biggest stars are on the opposite side of things. Mahomes and Mayfield have both tossed nine interceptions and could end the week with more after they face off on Monday Night Football.

Entering Week 9, Herbert possessed the second-lowest interception rate (0.5%) among signal-callers, overtaking QB Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills. Allen — the league leader in INT rate (0.4%) — had a tough-luck pick on Sunday. The miscue cleared the way for Herbert to take the top spot ahead of Week 10.

Who leads the NFL in interceptions?

It is a given that the quarterback with the most interceptions in the league will have played in all of his team’s games.

The more you play, the more opportunity you have to commit turnovers. Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love missed Week 2 and 3 but was still the first player to reach double-digit interceptions.

Love’s 10th pick came in the Packers’ Week 10 loss to the Detroit Lions. His turnover was an extremely poor and costly decision, as Detroit returned it for a touchdown right before halftime. The game ended 24-14.

Fortunately for Love, Green Bay is on bye in Week 10. If Mahomes, Mayfield, or another quarterback has a bad game, they may yank the unfortunate distinction away from him before he returns to the field  against the Chicago Bears in Week 11.