SAN DIEGO – The imagination runs wild when Justin Herbert starts cooking like he did Tuesday at Chargers training camp.
The ball jumps out of his hand – quick, effortless, precise – dropping into receivers’ arms for chunk gains and touchdowns. It’s not just the arm talent; it’s the rhythm, the timing, the command of it all.
Herbert isn’t just delivering passes; he’s dictating terms.
“He’s throwing guys open,” marveled Chargers safety Derwin James, whose first-team secondary got picked apart so thoroughly Tuesday that James and defensive pass game coordinator Steve Clinkscale had to light into the group on the sideline.
“We know our standards,” James said.
Herbert had no interest in them. No matter what James and his unit tried, he kept slicing them up, over and over, with answers for everything.
In those stretches, the offense doesn’t just feel efficient, it feels inevitable.
Pro Bowls. MVPs. Super Bowls.
When Herbert looks like that, it’s easy to see the path, and to believe it’s all within reach.
Only for everything to shift in a completely different direction, almost in the blink of an eye.
Chargers Camp Almost Proves Costly
First, left tackle Rashawn Slater left the field for the medical tent with an undisclosed injury. Slater emerged a few minutes later, but the Chargers kept him on the sideline for the remainder of practice.
Whatever Slater was dealing with did not appear serious. Herbert said he briefly spoke with the veteran tackle, and the indication was that Slater wanted to return. But the Chargers chose caution, unwilling to tempt fate after losing Slater for the season following the patellar tendon injury he suffered in last year’s training camp.
Then came a sequence that served as an equally jarring reminder of how quickly things can change. Herbert overthrew a wide-open receiver on one play, then threw an interception on the very next snap.
The Slater scare and Herbert’s sudden misfire were reminders of the Chargers’ reality over the last few years: a team loaded with talent, led by a quarterback as gifted as any in the NFL, carrying championship expectations and Super Bowl aspirations.
Yet when it matters most, they’ve too often been forced to confront the cruelest side of the sport. Injuries, missed opportunities and moments that swing against them.
That includes Herbert, whose regular-season brilliance has yet to translate to postseason success. The Chargers are 0-3 in the playoffs during his career, and Herbert has been part of the reason, completing just 54.7 percent of his passes with four interceptions against two touchdowns. His passer rating drops from 96.3 in the regular season to 64.7 in the postseason.
That isn’t a fall-off.
That’s a crater.
A perplexing one, given Herbert’s rare combination of arm talent, intelligence and the ability to create plays with both his legs and his mind.
The Chargers have entered almost every season of the Herbert era with expectations as high as any team in the NFL. Every year, it feels like the season when everything finally comes together. When the talent, the quarterback and the circumstances align, and the payoff finally arrives.
So it’s no surprise the Chargers are being viewed through that same lens again as they head into year three under Jim Harbaugh.
Assuming Slater’s setback Tuesday was merely a temporary scare rather than a legitimate concern, and assuming Joe Alt can stay healthy after missing the final 11 games of last season with an ankle injury, Herbert’s blindside and frontside will be protected by what could be the best tackle tandem in football.
Then there’s the arrival of Mike McDaniel, one of the game’s brightest offensive minds, who has already detailed ways to maximize Herbert’s greatest strengths: his processing, his anticipation and his ability to deliver the football with precision. That vision was obvious Tuesday, with Herbert getting the ball out quickly and accurately to receivers like Ladd McConkey and Tre Harris.
“We’ve talked about it all camp and all of OTA’s about getting the ball to the receivers in position where they can turn it upfield and make something happen,” Herbert said.
Call it the McDaniel effect.
Defensively, the Chargers have the foundation to remain among the league’s elite. Led by James, the unit allowed the ninth-fewest points in the NFL last season. There will be an adjustment period with Chris O’Leary taking over after Jesse Minter left to become the head coach of the Ravens, but there is little reason to expect a significant drop-off.
That’s the point: everything is in place.
It’s why the Chargers continue to be viewed as a team capable of making a deep playoff run this year, if not a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
It’s why the imagination starts racing when Herbert is carving up a defense that allowed the fifth-fewest yards in the NFL last season.
In those moments, the mind races toward all the reasons this could finally be the year the Chargers break through.
But if the door gets slammed in their face again, the conversation will change.
The injuries. The bad breaks. The close calls. The “almosts.”
Eventually, they stop being explanations and start becoming evidence.
For the Chargers, the time for excuses are over.
