PALM BEACH, Fla. — Looking for the hottest trend in NFL circles? Try … teams taking advantage of their young-but-elite quarterback’s still relatively manageable rookie contract.
Exhibit A: the Los Angeles Chargers and Justin Herbert.
“It’s not just enough to outscore people in this league,” Chargers coach Brandon Staley said at last week’s NFL owners’ meetings. “You’ve got to win in a lot of different ways in this league. It’s not just surrounding [Herbert] with offensive weapons; it’s surrounding him with a complete team, where the pressure isn’t on him every single game to score 35 [points], to throw for 350 [yards], you know, to bring you back. And I think that’s what we’re trying to do is surround Justin and all of our players with a complete team.”
And you have to be able to afford said pieces, right?
So with Herbert, the No. 6 overall pick of the 2020 draft, entering Year 3 of his four-year, $26.5-plus million contract, the Chargers were able to go after big names with just-as-big price tags. And primarily on the defensive side of the ball.
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First, the Chargers acquired edge rusher Khalil Mack from the Chicago Bears for a second-round pick in this year’s draft and a sixth-rounder in 2023. The deal was agreed to March 10 and made official on March 16, the first day of the new league year. Mack has been an All-Pro performer in eight seasons with the Raiders and the Bears, registering six sacks in seven games last season and a career-high 12.5 in 2018 in Chicago when Staley was his outside linebackers coach.
“That’s going to be a fun guy to play with,” Mack said of Herbert. “He has a lot of different intangibles. Not just from a football aspect, but just the mindset. Just watching that mindset from afar, I’ve kind of admired it. I admire his mindset…
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