Justin Herbert

Career StatsC+

Year	Team	GP	Yards	TD	INT	RTG
Career		95	24,820	163	58	96.3
2025		16	3,727	26	13	94.1
2024		17	3,870	23	3	101.7

Current Contract

Contract Value Index (CVI)

The Chargers handed Justin Herbert a massive $52.5M AAV extension that lands squarely in overpay territory, earning a C- CVI grade that reflects the disconnect between elite quarterback money and solid starter production. While Herbert has shown flashes of brilliance and possesses undeniable arm talent, his performance tier doesn't yet justify placing him among the NFL's highest-paid signal-callers alongside proven champions and MVP-caliber quarterbacks. At just 25 years old, there's certainly room for growth in his prime years, but Los Angeles essentially paid for potential rather than proven excellence, banking on development that hasn't materialized consistently. The $133.7M in guaranteed money creates significant financial risk if Herbert plateaus at his current level, though the five-year structure does provide some salary cap flexibility compared to shorter, more front-loaded deals. This contract represents the modern NFL reality where teams must secure their franchise quarterback early, but the Chargers may have jumped the gun on a player who needed another season to prove he belonged in the top tier of NFL quarterbacks.

Performance Analysis

Justin Herbert enters his sixth NFL season as one of the more polarizing quarterbacks in the league — a former sixth-overall pick who arrived with generational physical tools and has spent his career trying to translate raw talent into consistent playoff-caliber production. Carrying a career passer rating of 96.3 and a 66.5 completion percentage across 95 games, Herbert's body of work places him firmly in the upper tier of starting quarterbacks, even as his current campaign has produced a C+ grade that sits a modest step below his established ceiling. He remains the unquestioned franchise cornerstone in Los Angeles, but the Chargers need more than competence from their investment — they need Herbert to take the leap that separates good quarterbacks from great ones. On the positive side of the ledger, Herbert is doing several things well this season. His current passer rating of 94.1 sits meaningfully above the NFL average of 77.2, his completion rate of 66.4 percent edges past the league norm of 64.2, and his yards-per-attempt mark of 7.28 outpaces the average of 6.90 — all signs of a quarterback who processes the game efficiently and makes sound decisions. His TD rate of 5.08 percent also clears the league average of 4.50, suggesting he is finding the end zone at a respectable clip. The concern, however, lies in his passing yards per game of 232.9, which barely clears the league average of 230.0 and sits well short of the elite threshold of 290.0 — indicating that Herbert is not consistently commanding offenses in the way his physical gifts suggest he should. Herbert's recent trajectory — a C in 2023 that improved to a B- in 2024 before slipping back to a C+ this season — reflects a quarterback still searching for the consistency that defines true franchise cornerstones. The regression from his 2024 grade is a yellow flag worth monitoring, particularly for a player now in his prime years when development curves should be stabilizing upward. If Herbert can close the gap between his above-average efficiency numbers and an elite volume output while staying healthy in a brutal AFC West, there is still every reason to believe a sustained B-plus-or-better season is within reach — and with it, a legitimate shot at cementing his legacy as one of the conference's premier signal-callers.

Current Sentiment

Justin Herbert enters the 2026 offseason with an A- sentiment grade that reflects something increasingly rare in today's NFL media landscape: a quarterback whose reputation is almost entirely insulated from the organizational turbulence surrounding him. The dominant narrative is a familiar one — Herbert's individual talent, anchored by his 2020 Offensive Rookie of the Year award and a career passer rating hovering near 96, is treated as settled law by analysts and fans alike, while the scrutiny falls squarely on the front office's ability to build around him. That disconnect becomes sharper when you stack the A- sentiment against his steady C+ performance grade, a gap that signals the media is grading Herbert on potential and circumstance rather than pure production — a generous posture that speaks to just how much goodwill he carries. The offseason headlines tell a divided story: draft coverage acknowledged the Chargers' effort to address his protection, but at least one prominent take characterized the overall draft execution as a faceplant in protecting their franchise quarterback, and the trade of the 55th overall pick to New England raises legitimate questions about whether the team is properly prioritizing his supporting cast. Recent signings — including offensive lineman Kayode Awosika, Cole Strange, and running back Kimani Vidal — suggest the organization is at least aware of the problem, though the addition of Trey Lance as a backup quietly underscores that the Chargers are operating with urgency around Herbert's health and availability. At 28, with the regular season still four-plus months away, Herbert remains one of the most narratively protected quarterbacks in the AFC — the public isn't losing faith in him, but patience with the organization's ability to unlock his ceiling is visibly thinning.