Justin Herbert is fresh off of arguably the greatest rookie season by a quarterback in NFL history. The LA Chargers quarterback broke several rookie passing records, with the one record he fell short in being the all-time rookie passing yards record.
If Herbert would have played all 16 games he undoubtedly would have broken it. In fact, if Week 17 was a more competitive game than he likely would have broken it, as he was only 39 yards shy of breaking Andrew Luck’s record.
So we know it is one of the greatest rookie seasons in NFL history, but how does Herbert’s year compare to the best seasons in franchise history/
Factoring all the stats as well as the team’s success, here are the five greatest seasons by a Chargers quarterback.
Greatest seasons by a Chargers quarterback: 5. Justin Herbert, 2020
Yep, ripping the bandage off right away. As much as I wanted to have recency bias and make Herbert higher on this list, I just could not. He belongs in the top five but it is hard to put him any higher, for multiple reasons.
First, Herbert was only 6-9 as a starter. Of course, a lot of that was because of the coaching staff and the typical Charger mistakes, but it still does matter and makes a difference. Plus, he only played 15 games.
Now, we can theorize and average out what his numbers would have looked like if he played Week 1, but that is all hypothetical. We have to go with what we have.
Herbert finished the 2020 season with the sixth-most passing touchdowns, 10th most yards (fifth-most yards per game) and the third-best completion percentage (with at least 4,000 passing yards).