ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler continued his annual series of compiling league-wide votes to rank the ten best players at each position. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, who missed the final four games of the 2023 season, is sixth in these rankings. The one-spot slide from last year widens the gap between him and the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks. Is it justified?
Through the 13 games Herbert started and finished in 2023, the Chargers were ninth in dropback Expected Points Added per Play (EPA/Play) and 10th in dropback success rate. During this span, the Chargers lost center Corey Linsley and wide receiver Mike Williams for the season while Herbert fractured the middle finger of his non-throwing hand. The team around him began to unravel as the defense disappointed with an eighth-worst EPA/Play and Brandon Staley lost the faith of the organization en route to a startling midseason firing.
The sixth-best ranking heading into 2024 is an amalgamation of Herbert’s perseverance in the face of tremendous adversity, his unreal output when healthy, and league-wide trepidation given a statistically and medically down season for the Chargers’ franchise quarterback.
Decided to re-watch the Justin Herbert masterclass vs the Vikings last season just for fun today. 4 minutes of pure darts from #10. 🎯👇 pic.twitter.com/EVHdxgTY7N
— Steven Haglund (@StevenIHaglund) May 11, 2024
Herbert was fourth in dropback EPA/Play and success rate through three healthy weeks, the final of which featured 405 passing yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions en route to a difficult road win. Following the aforementioned two key losses and finger injury, Herbert was just 11th in dropback EPA/Play and 15th in success rate.
Attention now turns to whether a complete franchise overhaul with the hiring of Jim Harbaugh will amend the failures of the previous regime and support Herbert’s return to MVP conversations. An organization centered around their quarterback and trench warfare looks primed to do just that.
