LA Chargers Week 11 Overreactions: Is Casey Hayward washed?

Overreaction #3: Justin Herbert will be the 2020 NFL offensive rookie of the year

Against the New York Jets, Justin Herbert had an excellent opportunity to pad his stats and improve his resume demonstrating his validity as the 2020 NFL offensive rookie of the year.

Again, Herbert proved he was up to the task. After achieving the rookie record for yardage in the first half, Herbert ended with 366 yards and three touchdowns on 37 completions.

So with all of that being said, does Justin Herbert have the 2020 NFL offensive rookie of the year award secured?

Does Justin Herbert have Offensive Rookie of the Year on lock?

He's on a TEAR. #BoltUp

(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/NTJCGsC4Wn

— Sunday Night Football (@SNFonNBC) November 22, 2020

While anything can happen, the odds that Justin Herbert will win rookie of the year have reached the highest levels that they possibly could with six games left to play.

The reasons are twofold.

First, Justin Herbert is the only rookie quarterback left standing as a candidate for an award that has been dominated by quarterbacks.

In an extremely unfortunate turn of events, Joe Burrow’s season is over after he suffered a serious injury. Certainly, Burrow will have a good chance at winning comeback player of the year in 2021 after he was within striking distance for rookie of the year in 2020.

Additionally, Tua Tagovailoa was unceremoniously benched for Ryan Fitzpatrick in Week 11. Despite his average performances in recent weeks, the media (particularly ESPN) has been placing immense hype on Tagovailoa, consistently calling him a plain “winner.” While that was giving Tagovailoa a bit of traction in the rookie of the year race, a benching is a clear disqualifying factor.

Secondly, the LA Chargers struggles in 2020 will keep Justin Herbert throwing plenty.

With a secondary and special teams incapable of competence, the Chargers are going to need to rely on Justin Herbert’s arm to keep them in games. With their reliance on Herbert, he is sure to put up big stats that will keep him at the forefront of voters’ minds in the rookie of the year race.

With the knowledge that Justin Herbert’s new haircut did not curse his play, you can just about write it in stone at this point: Justin Herbert is the 2020 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Verdict #3: Not an overreaction