The trade deadline chatter around Justin Herbert has gotten loud, but the reality in Los Angeles is a lot less dramatic than the rumors.
The Chargers are 0-7, the deadline is closing in fast, and around the league there’s a growing belief that after their loss to the Rams, they’ll finally be willing to listen on some of their players. Until now, they had not engaged in trade talks on anyone, even as the speculation kept building.
Herbert’s name has been at the center of it all. His play this season has fallen well short of his usual standard, and he has looked out of sync in Mike McDaniel’s timing-based offense. That has fueled the noise, especially with the November 10th trade deadline approaching.
Still, Herbert’s situation is not as open-ended as the rumors suggest. He has a full no-trade clause, which means he is not going anywhere unless he wants out.
That matters because the market for Herbert would otherwise be enormous. He has six years of strong play on his résumé, and even with the ugly 2026 season, that track record would make him one of the biggest names available if he were actually on the block. At the same time, he remains one of the most polarizing quarterbacks in the league, which only adds to the constant debate around him.
The bigger issue for the Chargers is how badly this has gone with McDaniel. The offseason splash hire has turned into a mess, with McDaniel asking Herbert to adjust his game to fit the Shanahan system rather than shaping the system around Herbert’s strengths. That approach has not worked.
Herbert’s long throwing motion has always been part of the conversation, especially because a 6'6 quarterback gets passes batted down as often as he does. Most quarterbacks who thrive in Shanahan systems operate with a quicker release, and the Chargers never seemed to build enough of the offense around Herbert’s skill set. The same problem extended to the receivers, too.
The result has been regression across the board. The offense has gone off the rails, the Chargers are winless heading into week nine, and McDaniel is on the hot seat.
That’s why a Herbert trade still feels like a long shot. His value has taken a hit because of the season he’s having, and moving him would also be a massive financial blow. The Chargers would take on more than $80 million in dead cap between this season and next, with most of that landing in 2027.
So while the speculation isn’t going away, the actual path to a deal is narrow. Unless Herbert tells ownership he is 100 oercent done, the Chargers are not moving on from him.
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Justin Herbert Faces A Bigger Chargers Problem Than Rival Trash Talk
A week after a loss, Justin Herbert found himself answering for more than the Chargers record. Rams safety Quentin Lake took aim at the quarterbacks recent play, and the comments quickly turned into another layer of scrutiny around a season that has already left Los Angeles searching for answers. Jim Harbaugh stepped in to defend Herbert, while Herbert said he had not even been aware of what was said, a reminder that the noise around the team is growing louder than the results on the field.
For Herbert, the larger issue is not a rivals criticism so much as the way the Chargers have looked while staying winless. The conversation has shifted from isolated mistakes to a broader concern about whether the offense is getting enough from its franchise quarterback, and whether the team can stabilize before the outside chatter starts to feel like the easy part of the problem. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Herbert And The Chargers Are Now Getting Mocked By Opponents
The Chargers latest loss only added to the frustration around a season that has gone off the rails, and it also produced an unflattering side note for Justin Herbert. After the Rams beat Los Angeles, Rams safety Quentin Lake had plenty to say about Herberts passing game, turning a routine rivalry result into another reminder of how rough things have become for the Chargers offense.
Herbert finished 24 of 32 for 257 yards, but the numbers came with two interceptions and no touchdowns, and the Chargers remain stuck at the bottom of the league in scoring. For a team already searching for answers at 0-7, getting mocked by an opponent after the fact is the kind of extra sting that tends to linger. [Read more 🡒]
Harbaugh Doubles Down As Chargers Offense Faces Early Pressure
The Chargers are still searching for their first win, and Jim Harbaugh is not making a change at the top of the offense. He confirmed that Mike McDaniel will keep calling plays, a sign the team is sticking with its current structure even as the early-season pressure grows around a unit that has yet to find its footing.
That leaves the focus on execution rather than a shakeup, with the burden shifting back to the players to sort out what has gone wrong. Around the division, the conversation is already turning to other quarterbacks and other fronts, but for the Chargers the immediate question remains whether this offense can settle in before the frustration starts to build even more. [Read more 🡒]