The LA Chargers are 0-2. They've lost two games at home against two teams with a combined win total of nine heading into the year. It was supposed to be the easy stretch of the season before the upcoming gauntlet. Los Angeles didn't just lose, they were outclassed. Twice.
It's easy to overreact through two weeks. But it genuinely feels like the Chargers' 2026 season is over before it could even start.
This is the worst it's felt to be a Chargers fan during Justin Herbert's entire career, which is saying something given all the trials and tribulations the signal-caller has been through. Losing to the Raiders on Sunday was a breaking point, one that should open a previously unimaginable door that never seemed possible.
The Chargers should consider trading Justin Herbert
Let's make one thing abundantly clear: the Chargers should not shop Justin Herbert. Good quarterbacks don't grow on trees and the Chargers don't need to dangle Herbert out like he is a used car on a Labor Day Weekend special.
They should, however, open the phone lines. Any idea of trading Herbert in the past was instantly shot down. Heck, teams actually called the Chargers for Herbert ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft only for the Bolts to slam the door. That door should no longer be slammed.
I'm at the point where if a team like the Vikings wants to throw a godfather offer for Justin Herbert... just do it. Restart. Get a QB this year. Start over.
— Jason Reed (@EatYourReedies) September 20, 2026
If the Chargers aren't going to support him and his development then just get as much as you can for him.
It could be during the season, after the season, or right before the 2027 NFL Draft. But if another team is willing to send a true grandfather offer for Herbert, one that would include multiple first-round picks in addition to several mid-round picks, it may actually be the best thing for the franchise to just pull the plug.
Trading Herbert during the year, which is borderline impossible due to cap constraints and him having to adopt a new offense on a new team on the fly, would at least allow the Chargers to truly tank this season and accelerate a rebuild. With how hard the schedule is, the team may not even need to trade Herbert for that to happen.
We are in year seven of the Justin Herbert experience and he has only gotten worse on the Chargers. The promising gun-slinging rookie who had future MVP written all over him looks like a shell of himself. He looks far more like Jared Goff than he does Josh Allen.
Some of that is Herbert's own shortcomings, which certainly should be mentioned. Critiquing Herbert is sacrilegious for Chargers fans, even when he's completely brought it upon himself. Herbert doesn't have a single statement win in his now seven-year career. He's 0-3 in the playoffs and played poorly in all three games. He has all the arm talent in the world, but arm talent can only take you so far.
But it's not all on Herbert.
The Chargers have actively hampered Justin Herbert's development
My X post above was read by Bill Simmons on his latest podcast and he pushed back on the notion that the Chargers are not supporting his development. On paper, Simmons is right. The Chargers have committed a lot of resources to supporting Herbert both in the NFL Draft and the coaches they have hired to help him.
The Chargers have certainly tried to support their star quarterback by drafting three offensive linemen and two offensive skill position players in five of the last six first rounds. They undoubtedly hired Mike McDaniel because they thought it was best for their quarterback. The intentions were good, and the moves were sound, but it was never the complete picture.
While the Chargers did this, they also actively ignored the interior offensive line. We are in year three of the Harbaugh experience, and the Bolts have had a bottom-tier interior offensive line all three years. With $100 million in cap space, the Chargers' big free-agent signing at guard was Cole Strange. Nice.
The team has also never given Herbert a true No. 1 weapon after Keenan Allen started to age. Ladd McConkey is great but is a 1B. Quentin Johnston never worked out because they whiffed on his development. Tre' Harris was taken in the second round and Herbert hardly throws to him. Every great Super Bowl contender has at least one elite pass-catching weapon. The Chargers don't.
It's not for a lack of trying, but there is clearly a disconnect between Herbert and the organization. Herbert isn't getting what he needs to elevate his game despite the front office's best efforts... at times. The Chargers aren't getting the play of an elite quarterback despite paying him like one.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. The Chargers have clearly run into a wall every single season of Herbert's tenure as the starting quarterback. Do we really need to see the Chargers run into the same wall three more times after 2026 just for Herbert's contract to expire?
Herbert is actively regressing on the Chargers. His QBR has dipped every season since Harbaugh was hired. Herbert has gone from being the statistical darling of the NFL to one of the worst in starters in the league.
Year | EPA/Play (Rank) |
|---|---|
2020 | 62.6 (13th) |
2021 | 70.9 (3rd) |
2022 | 60.2 (11th) |
2023 | 64.8 (5th) |
2024 | 61.7 (11th) |
2025 | 60.6 (13th) |
2026 | 29.3 (31st) |
The only year Herbert was worse than he is right now was 2022, when he fractured his rib cartilage in Week 2 and played through the painful injury all season. He was a top-five quarterback in the league, as indicated by his 2021 and 2023 QBR rankings.
Can anyone actually say he is a top-five quarterback in 2026? Is he even top 10? Top 15? He's playing much closer to the median than to the top.
It's clearly not working. And that's not to say Herbert doesn't have it in him. In the right situation, he can still be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and lead a team on a Super Bowl run. I truly believe that is inside him somewhere.
But it's not coming out on the Chargers. If a grandfather offer truly exists, the Chargers must consider it.
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