In a day and age where sharing your top-10 current quarterback rankings can be enough to put food on the table, the star signal caller of the Los Angeles Chargers, Justin Herbert, is likely to be one of the most lucrative names in all of sports media.
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Herbert is one of just nine quarterbacks in NFL history to ever throw for 5,000+ yards in a season, yet he comes with a career playoff record of 0-2. There are a lot of conflicting factors to consider when debating his talent and limitations, which have seemingly transformed the 27-year-old into a walking hot-button topic for fans and analysts alike.
For those hoping for some clarity, you will find none here, as things only get murkier when you start comparing career passing yard averages.
Herbert’s current average of 267 passing yards per game is currently the eight highest in NFL history, beating out the likes of Aaron Rodgers (253.8) and the reigning MVP, Josh Allen (2381.) There are only two active quarterbacks who are ahead of him in the all-time rankings, and both of them just so happen to be in his conference.
Joe Burrow’s career passing yards per game average of 275.4 is currently the third-highest in NFL history, while the pride and joy of the Kansas City Chiefs in Patrick Mahomes currently holds the all-time record with a career average of 288.9 passing yards per game. Nevertheless, Herbert is still outproducing several other prominent passers.
After hearing FS1’s Nick Wright declare that Trevor Lawrence was more talented than Herbert during the closing moments of his most recent broadcast, the self-titled host of the Julian W. Lucas Sports YouTube series begged the question, “Why do people think that Justin Herbert is not a great quarterback?” In other words, whether he is overrated or underrated as a QB.
“Last season, Trevor Lawrence was missing basic, elementary throws. He was, fundamentally, playing poorly,” Lucas recalled before ultimately suggesting that, even though both Lawrence and Herbert have their fair share of issues with both coaching and roster issues, the Chargers’ QB is still “…doing what he can” to much a greater extent than other passers have while working in similar situations.
To Lucas’ credit, Herbert has managed to start in all 17 games in three out of the five regular seasons of his career. In those years, he averaged 4,541 passing yards and 28.6 passing touchdowns.
Throughout the last two seasons, Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers’ front office have made a concerted effort to improve the team’s offensive line and run game. They’ve invested first-round draft capital in the likes of Joe Alt and Omarion Hampton, and Ladd McConkey is shaping up to be Herbert’s primary target for the foreseeable future.
The 2025 iteration of the Chargers figures to be the best that Herbert has enjoyed since the 2021 and 2022 seasons, as the entire offense has now been revamped with a talented yet youthful core of players at some of its most key positions. Much of Herbert’s career has been predicated on “ifs” and “maybes,” but Los Angeles appears to have finally addressed most of those concerns.
Simply put, this regular season could prove to be a make-or-break one for Herbert’s career, as he seemingly has no excuses left.
