Questions about the leadership qualities of Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert have resurfaced after the Chargers opened the season with two losses.
That was before the Chargers fell to 0-3 with a 24-16 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 27. For a Casino.org piece published Thursday, NFL insider Jason La Canfora spoke with an unnamed “longtime personnel executive” about what Herbert has and hasn’t for the Chargers.
Does Justin Herbert need to be a more vocal leader amid the Chargers’ struggles?
“I think Herbert has a leadership issue,” the executive said. “He’s a pretty quiet guy, not very naturally vocal, and he seems to swallow sometimes.”
Herbert signed a five-year, $262.5M contract extension through the summer of 2023, and the hope from the Chargers at that time was that he would be viewed as one of the league’s elite signal-callers by the start of October 2026. That didn’t happen, because ESPN statistics show he started Thursday ranked 29th out of 30 qualified players with a woeful 27.4 adjusted QBR for this season.
In the first three weeks of the campaign, Herbert threw three touchdown passes and four interceptions. According to ESPN, Los Angeles heads into Week 4 ranked 20th in the league with an average of 308.7 yards per game and 29th with an average of 14.7 points scored per contest.
Chargers need Justin Herbert to “take ownership” of the team
“Leading into that draft, he reminded me of Carson Palmer in some ways, and you’ve heard some of those things about him, too. He’s got to step up and take ownership of it, and that’s not who he is,” the executive added of Herbert.
The whispers suggesting that Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh might make a change regarding offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s role with the club will likely intensify if Los Angeles suffers a 2-1 loss to the Seattle Seahawks this coming Sunday. On Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook made Los Angeles a seven-point road underdog for the matchup against the defending Super Bowl champions.