There are some who feel that Los Angeles Chargers star Justin Herbert is a borderline top-five quarterback in the NFL. At least from a talent perspective.
You can understand why. He has a big arm, he has good instincts and he has put up very impressive numbers over his first several NFL seasons. For the most part, anyway.
However, Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon not only thinks Herbert shouldn’t sniff the top five, but he doesn’t even think he is a top-10 signal-caller in football.
Gagnon has placed names such as Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts ahead of Herbert, which are controversial picks, to say the least.
That’s not to say that Gagnon is entirely wrong, however.
Let’s keep this in mind: Herbert is yet to really win much of anything on the NFL level. He did guide the Chargers to a playoff berth two years ago, but ultimately blew a huge lead to Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card Round.
Meanwhile, Hurts and Goff have both gotten to Super Bowls and Tagovailoa has led the Miami Dolphins to the postseason in back-to-back years.
As a pure passer, Herbert is probably superior to all three of those guys, and he is probably in or near the top five in that regard.
But the quarterback position is not just about being the best passer. If it were, Dan Marino would probably be regarded as the best quarterback ever.
Winning matters, and Herbert has yet to do much of that through four NFL seasons.
This past year, he played in 13 games before bowing out due to a finger injury. During that time, Herbert threw for 3,134 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 65.1 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 93.2 in what was probably the worst year of his career to date.
Herbert did make a Pro Bowl back in 2021 when he threw for 5,014 yards and 38 touchdowns, but since then, he hasn’t eclipsed 30 scores.
The 26-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Oregon, was selected by Los Angeles with the sixth overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Things aren’t about to get any easier for Herbert, either, as the Chargers sent his two top receivers—Keenan Allen and Mike Williams—packing this offseason.
That being said, LA did bring in Jim Harbaugh as its new head coach, so maybe he will be able to get the best out of Justin Herbert in 2024.
Want the latest NFL analysis, breaking news, and insider information? Click here. Interested in reading storylines and analysis about the NBA? Check out our partner NBA Analysis Network.
