Justin Herbert is fresh off of a record-setting rookie season and expectations are high for the second-year quarterback out of Oregon. With a year of NFL experience under his belt and (hopefully) better playcalling, the LA Chargers signal-caller is due for an explosive second season in 2021.
In fact, you can make the legitimate case that Herbert is a front-runner for the MVP award. Every year there seems to be a second-year quarterback in the mix (Kyler Murray was in the running last season, Lamar Jackson won the year before, Patrick Mahomes the year before that) and Hebert checks that box.
Personally, I think Herbert will be in the MVP discussion and in the process he is going to leapfrog two quarterbacks in many people’s quarterback rankings.
LA Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert should be considered a top-five quarterback in the league after 2021.
Some outlets don’t even have Justin Herbert in the top 10. Pro Football Focus bafflingly ranks Herbert 15th, but we all know what the story is there with Herbert and PFF.
Herbert checked in as the seventh-best quarterback in our collective quarterback rankings at the end of last season. In 2021, he is going to surpass two quarterbacks, in particular, to ensure that he gets the top-five honors from NFL pundits that he deserves.
And to be clear, this is not an all-time ranking. This is a ranking of who is the best right now. A second-year quarterback is obviously not going to have much of an all-time argument against some of these other guys.
Let’s get into the two quarterbacks that Justin Herbert will surpass in 2021.