People who are floating the idea of trading Justin Herbert ought to take a long look at what the Chargers actually are right now, because that suggestion is pure nonsense.
Yes, the Chargers are 0-2. Yes, those “home” losses to the Cardinals and Raiders were ugly.
And yes, Sunday brings a trip to 2-0 Buffalo, which is hardly the kind of setting that calms anybody down. Herbert also hasn’t played well in Mike McDaniel’s new offense, which hasn’t really looked like an offense at all.
But laying this mess at Herbert’s feet alone misses almost everything that’s gone wrong.
His receivers haven’t separated, and they’ve dropped too many balls. The run game hasn’t been right, either, and Omarion Hampton has to hold onto the ball despite his gifts.
The offensive line has been shaky, especially inside, and even Joe Alt has been off at right tackle. On the other side, the defense hasn’t been worth a damn.
Herbert has been bad, sure, but this has not been a one-man collapse.
Jim Harbaugh’s team also hasn’t been ready to play.
That point was hammered home by ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, speaking the day after the Raiders loss: “Yesterday was not just Justin Herbert. There were six or seven jaw-dropping drops.
Their interior offensive line is absolutely atrocious. There’s probably another 100-150 yards on the tape.
He’s getting let down by his own teammates. They look remarkably unprepared.
Clearly the most disappointing team in the NFL.”
Orlovsky is obviously high on Herbert, as are plenty of people who know the game, including Harbaugh and McDaniel. And Herbert has already shown he can drag a team a long way, just as he did last season when he helped produce 11 wins and a playoff berth despite some of the worst offensive line play in history and unimaginative Greg Roman calling the shots.
That’s why the trade talk makes no sense. What exactly would the Chargers get for Herbert anyway? Two No. 1s?
Sure, plenty of teams would line up for him. The next draft class is loaded with quarterbacks, too.
But would any of those prospects turn into Justin Herbert? That’s the gamble, and nobody knows the answer.
College quarterbacks are mysteries until they aren’t.
And if Herbert is gone, then what? Trey Lance?
This start has been so bad it doesn’t even feel like classic Chargering. Harbaugh has never opened a season 0-2 as a coach, and if this keeps up, 0-3 is staring him right in the face. He runs the football side, and so far the personnel and the plan have not come close to delivering a win.
Trading Herbert wouldn’t just wreck this season. It could wreck the future, too. And in a city where NFL fans are already thin on the ground, that’s a brutal place to go.
Trading Herbert is the opposite of The Answer.
The Chargers have had Dan Fouts, Stan Humphries, Philip Rivers and now Herbert under Dean Spanos, and still haven’t won anything. Even Harbaugh seems to have gotten caught in that same current.
At this point, the blame lands where it always seems to land: Dean Spanos. They can’t sink a dinghy with him on the bridge.
In Other News...
Justin Herbert Took A Brutal National TV Shot In Chargers Loss
Justin Herberts rough night against Buffalo got even louder in the fourth quarter, when a mistake in a big spot turned into national-TV criticism from one of the most recognizable voices in football. In the Chargers Week 3 loss, Herberts interception was picked off by Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and quickly helped set up the kind of response drive that can swing a game, with Buffalo finishing off a 24-16 win.
Tom Brady, working the FOX booth with Kevin Burkhardt, did not soften the moment as it unfolded. For Herbert and the Chargers, it was the sort of sequence that can linger beyond the box score, especially when the turnover comes late enough to change the entire feel of the game and leaves the team trying to explain another missed chance against a quality opponent. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Win Left The Chargers With A Much Bigger Problem
The Chargers came out of Week 3 with something even more frustrating than a loss to Buffalo: another reminder that winning the turnover battle is not enough when the offense cannot cash it in. The defeat fit a troubling early-season pattern, with the Chargers struggles on that side of the ball drawing scrutiny under coach Mike McDaniel as they try to keep pace in a crowded AFC picture.
Los Angeles is hardly alone in dealing with early anxiety, with the Packers wrestling with line problems around Jordan Love and the Buccaneers buried under a three-game skid while Baker Mayfield deals with an injury issue. But for the Chargers, the concern is more immediate because the Buffalo result suggested the bigger problem is not bad luck or one mistake, it is whether the offense can do enough to make the rest of the roster matter. [Read more 🡒]
Tom Brady Took A Brutal Public Shot At Justin Herbert
During the Chargers' matchup with the Bills, Justin Herbert ran into one of those nationally televised moments that gets replayed long after the snap itself. A pass intended for the offense instead ended up in C.J. Gardner-Johnson's hands, and Tom Brady, working the game as a color commentator, did not soften the critique one bit.
Brady went right at Herbert's awareness and decision-making on the play, even using the phrase "Meatball Sub" to describe the throw's placement. It was the kind of blunt, unsparing analysis that has already become part of Brady's early broadcasting identity, and for Chargers fans, it only added to the sting of watching a mistake turn into a turnover on a big stage. [Read more 🡒]