Playing in the opposing conference and then across the country, Poona Ford didn’t know much about Justin Herbert before the former Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills defensive lineman signed with the Chargers. Still, in two career games against Herbert, Ford learned everything he needed.
“He’s definitely, like, one of the best quarterbacks in the league,” Ford said.
Where Herbert fits exactly in the pecking order is the topic of never-ending debates on radio shows, television segments and podcasts. Some of Herbert’s statistics have him among Hall of Famers. He needs 153 yards passing to pass Peyton Manning for the most in NFL history through five seasons.
With 3,243 yards passing and 18 touchdowns this season, Herbert is close to becoming the third player with 3,000 yards and 20 touchdown passes in each of his first five seasons, joining Manning and Russell Wilson.
Yet when it comes to the current stars, Herbert is often an afterthought compared to Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow.
“We’ve anointed him, but he doesn’t seem to be in the category with those guys,” former quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said last week on the podcast he hosts with fellow Amazon NFL analyst Andrew Whitworth. “I don’t think you can question his toughness. I think there’s still questions, maybe, about his leadership ability.”
None of those questions are coming from his locker room, where Herbert has grown in esteem while fighting through ankle injuries to lead the Chargers to the brink of their first playoff berth since 2022.
“He’s a true leader,” center Bradley Bozeman said. “He’s got that just dog mentality, like he’s not gonna put up with any bulls—, he’s gonna be himself 100%, and he’s gonna expect excellence out of you.”
Herbert’s record-setting statistics have slowed this season as the Chargers (9-6) ushered in a new offense with unproven receivers. Meanwhile, his AFC counterparts are putting up groundbreaking numbers seemingly each week.
Cincinnati’s Burrow and Baltimore’s Jackson have thrown for twice as many touchdowns as Herbert. The Ravens star is angling for his third most valuable player award by setting the NFL record for career yards rushing by a quarterback while passing for a franchise-record 39 touchdowns with just four interceptions.
Allen, another MVP front-runner, has 26 touchdown passes and leads all AFC quarterbacks with 11 touchdown runs. Mahomes already clinched a first-round playoff bye for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Where Herbert trails the most is in postseason success: He’s never won a playoff game. Herbert’s chance to help change the narrative continues Saturday as the Chargers can clinch a playoff spot with a win against New England.
The Chargers got to the brink of the postseason behind a clutch fourth-quarter performance from Herbert against the Denver Broncos. Herbert threaded pinpoint passes to receivers, scrambled on a bad ankle for 28 yards and, even when cameras weren’t looking, paced up and down the sideline to assure teammates they would win the game despite falling behind by 11 points in the first half and entering the fourth quarter down by five.
No deficit scared safety Derwin James Jr., who told defensive teammates on the sideline that Herbert would close out the win.
“Everybody just sees Justin and his talent and everything,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said, “but what that guy does to prepare, what he does to make everybody around better, what he puts on the line physically, as a quarterback, and dealing with any type of thing that he might be dealing with … everybody just follows those type of guys.”
Herbert was elected as one of the team’s six captains in the preseason, along with Bozeman, James, offensive tackle Rashawn Slater, and linebackers Khalil Mack and Denzel Perryman. The group has earned Jim Harbaugh’s trust to the point that the coach, who is trying to reverse years of mediocrity, was proud to say he has “bequeathed” the team to his captains.
James is the unquestioned vocal leader who competes with fiery intensity. Mack, by his admission, prefers to speak with actions. Herbert falls somewhere in the middle.
Soft-spoken and reserved in public, Herbert has grown comfortable at the center of pregame huddles where he points his helmet toward teammates while imploring them to play together and for each other.
Microphones often catch Herbert’s alter ego — whom he called “Football Justin” — dropping expletives that are censored in social-media videos. The speeches are short, direct and never fail to energize teammates despite often following a familiar script, linebacker Daiyan Henley said.
Herbert doesn’t have to say much else afterward.
“He makes those plays — that falling back, throwing from his left — that’s the spark,” Henley said. “He speaks his mind, but more than anything, that play is what makes us want to go.”
The play fresh in Henley’s mind was the 19-yard touchdown pass Herbert threw to Derius Davis in the fourth quarter against the Broncos. Herbert escaped the pocket to his left and, with a defender bearing down, slung an off-balance pass to Davis, who reeled in his first career touchdown.
After falling to the turf, Herbert didn’t know he had completed the pass until he heard the roar of the SoFi Stadium crowd. Teammates marveled at the play. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman called it a “zero-gravity throw.”
Herbert deflected praise. It was all Davis, the quarterback said. The receiver was the one who reacted first to the broken play, cut up the field to find open space and adjusted backward to the ball.
“I could have laid it out further to him,” Herbert said.
That Herbert didn’t take credit for one of the defining moments of season didn’t surprise Roman.
“He passes on the good stuff. If something’s bad, he tries to take the blame,” Roman said. “That’s what great leaders do.”
