Why You Care: For several seasons, Mike Sando of The Athletic has gotten 50 NFL coaches and executives to rank starting quarterbacks, placing them into tiers. Tier 1 quarterbacks can "carry his team each week" while Tier 2 ones can carry their team "sometimes but not as consistently." In his five seasons being ranked (excluding his rookie season,) Herbert has landed in Tier 1 twice (2022 and 2023) and Tier 2 in the other seasons; he's been ranked as high as the fifth-best QB in the game, and as low as 10th.
The public perception of Herbert doesnβt match up with how those insiders view him, however, and that comes down mostly to playoff success. Or lack thereof. Herbertβs gotten the Chargers to the postseason three times, winning zero games once there. In two of those games, Herbert helped his team gain a lead, only to fall and stay behind.
Itβs easy to see why talent evaluators think so highly of Herbert β he has a rocket arm, prototypical size, and enough athleticism to be a threat to run when necessary. He can make every throw a QB needs to, and plenty most QBs cannot. But heβs also had to deal with poor defenses, especially early in his career, and porous offensive lines. Pro Bowler Rashawn Slater missed the entire 2025 season due to a torn patellar tendon, while other Pro Bowl tackle Joe Alt managed to feature in just six games due to an ankle injury.
So why might 2026 be different? Because Mike McDaniel is now the offensive coordinator in Los Angeles. All McDaniel did as a head coach in Miami was turn Tua Tagovailoa into an above-average QB who led the NFL in passing yards once and twice was a top-10 passer by QBR. If McDaniel could extract such high-level play from a player with Tua's physical limitations, imagine what he can get out of Justin Herbert.
McDaniel thrives at building a rushing attack, then marrying his pass-game concepts to it. If (when?) the Chargers begin to run the ball more effectively, which we know they want to do under Jim Harbaugh, the passing game will open up for Herbert and make the offense less dependent on him throwing the ball 60 times a game and more efficient overall.
The hype and potential of Herbert has so far outstripped his actual production. At 28 years old, heβs running out of time to prove himself as a quarterback capable of leading his team to a Super Bowl, or at least a deep playoff run. Mike McDaniel might just be the man to aid Herbert in that transformation. |
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