The Los Angeles Chargers are staring at an uncomfortable place after their 0-5 start to the 2026 season, and it centers on Justin Herbert.
That kind of conversation would have sounded ridiculous not long ago. Before the season, plenty of people expected the Chargers to contend for the AFC and Herbert to be right in the MVP mix. Now the mood has shifted enough that the idea of a major reset in the 2027 offseason is at least on the table.
Herbert is 28 years old, has four years left on his deal, and a no-trade clause. His remaining base salaries are listed at $24 million, $36 million, $52 million, and $50.5 million. If the Chargers ever decided to move him, the 2027 offseason would be the time to do it.
At that point, his age and contract would still make him one of the most attractive trade chips in the league. The return could be massive, maybe even the biggest trade haul for a single player in NFL history if Los Angeles chose to go that route.
That possibility still feels extreme, but it’s not impossible.
The Chargers have already spent years trying to build around Herbert and squeeze value out of this window. They made the bold move to hire Jim Harbaugh away from Michigan and pay him like a centerpiece coach. Then, in the 2026 offseason, they shifted again and brought in Mike McDaniel after deciding the offensive scheme needed another fix.
They’ve also poured resources into the roster around Herbert. The defense has been heavily funded.
Premium draft capital has gone to the offensive line. More high picks have gone to offensive skill players as well.
Even so, the bigger question lingers: at what point do the Chargers stop trying to patch things together and decide a reset is the better move?
That answer could come after this season, depending on how Herbert finishes.
Right now, he’s in the worst season of his NFL career. He’s also coming off two terrible postseason games in a row. None of that means the Chargers can pin everything on him - injuries up front and problems from the playmakers matter too - but NFL team-building eventually forces hard choices.
And if Los Angeles ever does conclude that a different answer at quarterback is needed, there would be no shortage of suitors. Some team would be willing to pay whatever it takes for Herbert. If the Chargers wanted to chase an upgrade at the position, a Jared Goff/Matthew Stafford-style deal would at least be the kind of framework they could explore.
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Chargers Collapse Is Putting Ownership Under A Brutal Spotlight
The Chargers 0-5 start has done more than wreck the early-season outlook in Los Angeles. It has sharpened every criticism around the operation, from coaching choices and on-field execution to the bigger question of whether the roster has been managed aggressively enough to keep pace with the rest of the league.
What makes the frustration linger is that this is not just about one bad month or a few close losses. Around the team, the conversation has drifted toward ownership and the broader budget approach, with the sense that the current path leaves little margin for improvement and even less patience for the people tasked with fixing it. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Herbert Trade Talk Shows What Chargers Fans Are Really Debating
The mere suggestion of a Justin Herbert trade has been enough to send Chargers fans into the familiar spiral of imagining what their franchise quarterback might be worth and what it would mean to even entertain the idea. A high-level league executive reportedly floated the possibility that Herbert could command three future first-round picks, which is the kind of return that can make any front office pause, even if only in theory, because it underscores just how rare top quarterbacks are in todays NFL.
For the Chargers, though, the conversation appears to be more noise than real negotiation. Herbert has a no-trade clause, he recently signed a five-year extension through 2029, and the organization has made clear it has never discussed moving him and has no intention of doing so. Still, the buzz says plenty about the tension fans live with: when a team has a quarterback this talented, every hypothetical trade offer becomes a referendum on how much faith should be placed in the player who is supposed to define the next era. [Read more 🡒]
Chargers Fans Are Suddenly Stuck With A Justin Herbert Debate
The idea of Justin Herbert even entering trade chatter has already done what rumor seasons do best for the Chargers: it has turned a franchise quarterback into a topic of public argument. With the November 4 deadline in view, the speculation has centered on a hypothetical market so massive it would reshape any team that entertained it, and it has only sharpened the question of how a passer of Herberts caliber gets evaluated if the league ever truly opened the door.
For Chargers fans, the tension is less about whether the noise exists and more about what it says about the value attached to a player like Herbert. Several teams would surely line up if a deal were ever considered, but the organization has pushed back on the premise from the start, leaving the whole discussion in that uneasy space between rumor and reality. The debate is still alive, even if the Chargers have made clear they do not see it as one they need to have. [Read more 🡒]