Admiration for Justin Herbert has never been in short supply for Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Thusly, Harbaugh's of the belief that for his Bolts to find better results the supporting cast around Herbert must rise to his level of play.
"This is the truth, Justin Herbert's biggest weakness is all of those that he's counting on on offense -- coaches, offensive line, playmakers, receivers, running backs -- to get up to his level," Harbaugh said Saturday in an interview with Jamie Erdahl and Manti Te'o on Back Together Weekend. "I wake up every day to try to get to his level."
It's quite a bold statement from Harbaugh that the rest of the offense isn't at Herbert's level and one, in the case of the recently extended Rashawn Slater and maybe even second-year wide receiver Ladd McConkey, that could be argued. Nonetheless, most would likely agree that Herbert is the offensive standard for the Bolts to strive to match.
Coming off an 11-6 season and a playoff berth, the Chargers are trending in the right direction following Harbaugh's first campaign with the club.
With Herbert leading the way, Harbaugh's confident more success can follow, as he's quick to point out just how much triumph has already been attained by his one-time Pro Bowl QB in five seasons.
"I see him at the level, just the highest level as a quarterback," Harbaugh said. "First five seasons, nobody's thrown for more yards in the history of the NFL, and everything he does is, you just don't change a thing, but whatever it is, conditioning, it's too easy. Everything we do, we try to pull him back, because you never have to talk him into doing anything. He's been in here every day."
There's no hyperbole in this instance from Harbaugh, merely history.
In 2024, Herbert threw for 3,870 yards, 23 touchdowns and just four interceptions for an NFL-low 0.6 interception percentage. After half a decade in the league, Herbert stands tall with 21,093 passing yards, the most ever for a player in his first five NFL seasons.
He bettered the previous standard set by Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (20,618).
So, Herbert's on quite the trajectory statistically. The hope obviously is that the wins will follow with the Chargers having made the playoffs just twice in Herbert's tenure and having lost both of their postseason games in that span.
"Him and Greg Roman, they're the architects of the offense, they know it best, and I think that's going to pay good dividends for us," Harbaugh said. "Everything we're doing now we're doing for a second time, and it's clear and obvious that all of us, we've got to put the work in and get on his level."
So, as it goes at Chargers training camp with July soon to burn into August, Harbaugh wants the same Herbert in 2025. He's quite sure his quarterback can lead the Bolts to better fortune; he just needs the rest of the offense to follow.
"I want Justin to just be exactly who he is," Harbaugh said, "how he is, he does everything at the highest level, he's a tone-setter, he's the example-setter."
