2023 has turned into the year of the quarterback and the Los Angeles Chargers hopped on the trend as well. On Tuesday they became the latest team to lock in their franchise signal caller with a market resetting deal.
The Chargers and Justin Herbert agreed to a five-year, $262.5 million deal, which makes him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL with an annual average value of $52.5 million. It surpasses the deals signed by Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson earlier this offseason, as each of them had the record for a short period of time.
The deal that has been agreed to will keep Herbert under contract through at least 2029. It includes a no-trade clause, $133.7 million in guarantees and $193.7 million in injury guarantees. While the team didn’t announce monetary specifics, Adam Schefter of ESPN shared the numbers.
“I sleep better at night knowing we have a franchise quarterback,” Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said at the end of last season. “He’s done so much already in his young career, yet we all know there’s still a lot there because of his commitment to the game.”
Since being selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Herbert has accomplished many personal feats, taking down some records in the process. His 1,316 completions and 14,089 passing yards are the most for a quarterback through the first three seasons of their career. He has 94 career touchdown passes, with 25+ in each of his first three seasons, putting him in a club only Peyton Manning had joined.
Arguably most important, however, was that he led the Chargers back to the postseason for the first time since 2018. While things didn’t go well in that game, as the Chargers blew a 27-0 lead to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team can now rest easy knowing that Herbert is locked in long-term.
Locking in a deal also means no distractions at training camp, where a Herbert extension would have been the talk of the town. That distraction will now fall upon the Cincinnati Bengals, as Joe Burrow will almost assuredly be the next domino to fall on the quarterback market.
