Justin Herbert wore a walking boot on his right foot and watched Monday as the Chargers held a joint practice against the Rams. The star quarterback will rest his plantar fascia for at least the next two weeks.
He is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season, and the Chargers better hope he is.
The offense struggled in the joint practice, Eric Williams of Fox Sports reports.
“The rest of the offense has to be on point,” offensive coordinator Greg Roman said of being without Herbert. “Then, Justin’s got to figure out some of the chemistry things while we get caught up. But no, I don’t see it as a problem. I really don’t. These guys are instinctive guys, and it’s going to be great to get them all together, obviously. That’s always good. But that’s life in the NFL.”
Herbert is learning his fourth playbook in five years. He has two new starting receivers, two new starting tight ends, two new running backs, a new right tackle, a new center to go along with new coaches.
The Chargers did not upgrade the position behind Herbert, and Easton Stick remains the backup. Stick was 0-4 as the starter to finish the 2023 season with Herbert out with a broken index finger on his throwing hand.
Stick threw three touchdown passes and committed five turnovers last season. He also ran for a touchdown.
Stick is trying to help the rest of the offense prepare for the season, but he admits the obvious: He is not Herbert. Few are, so the Chargers have to hope and pray Herbert is back for the opener and able to play through his injury all season.
“Once the ball is snapped, I can’t play like Justin,” Stick said. “There are very few people in the world that can do what Justin Herbert does. So after the ball is snapped, we’re just playing.
“But I think it’s trying to make sure I’m communicating the way Justin will, so everybody’s on the same page.”
The Michigan sign-stealing scandal from 2023 has returned to the news, thanks to reporting on an NCAA notice of allegations that could result in the suspension of Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh’s successor at Ann Arbor, Sherrone Moore. Harbaugh himself faces a potential Level 1 violation, the highest under the NCAA’s infraction system.
Harbaugh addressed the situation on Monday. He reiterated his past denials of any involvement in or knowledge of the situation.
“Never lie, never cheat, never steal,” Harbaugh said, via Daniel Popper of TheAthletic.com. “I was raised with that lesson. I have raised my family on that lesson. I have preached that lesson to the teams that I’ve coached. No one’s perfect. If you stumble, you apologize and you make it right. Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate, was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations. So . . . it’s back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”
On one hand, it’s hard to discount Harbaugh’s impassioned denial. He always comes off as earnest and candid and ultimately honest.
On the other hand, it happened on his watch. In his attacking of the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, he missed something. Something big. He missed character flaws. He missed misconduct.
He was the cobbler who was oblivious to the fact that the elves were stealing shoes.
And so, even if he’s telling the 100-percent truth, it makes him look foolish to have not known what was happening right under his nose.
Now that he’s gone, none of it matters, right? Maybe not. Last year, the NFL’s in-house media conglomerate reported that the NFL might take action against Harbaugh if/when the NCAA does.
It’s not without precedent. The league did it before, both with former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, and with former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor.
So what will the NFL do, if the NCAA does anything to Harbaugh? The easy answer, and the right one, is this: Whatever it wants to do.
And what it wants to do will be influenced in some way by the relationship with college football. Also known as the NFL’s free farm system.
The NFL does plenty of kowtowing to college football, and if it thinks it needs to take action against Harbaugh in order to placate the NCAA, perhaps it will.
Chargers pass rusher Joey Bosa left practice early today with an apparent hand or wrist injury.
Bosa was shaken up while rushing the passer during 11-on-11 practice, according to Daniel Popper of TheAthletic.com.
The medical staff appeared to be checking Bosa’s hand or wrist before he headed inside while his teammates continued practicing.
There’s been no official word from the Chargers on the seriousness of Bosa’s injury.
The man who replaced Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh during his 2023 late-season suspension at Michigan is now facing a suspension of his own.
ESPN.com reports that new Michigan coach Sherrone Moore is among seven members of the national-championship program facing potential discipline in a new NCAA notice of allegations.
Per the report, “Moore could face a show-cause penalty and possibly a suspension for allegedly deleting a thread of 52 text messages with former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions in October 2023 on the same day that media reports revealed Stalions was leading an effort to capture the playcalling signals of future opponents.”
The text messages were later recovered through device imaging.
Stalions was the supposed mastermind of a signal-stealing scheme. Later this month, Netflix will unveil a documentary on the situation, with Stalions’s cooperation.
Also facing accusations of wrongdoing are Harbaugh, Chris Partridge, Denard Robinson, and Stalions. Each will reportedly be charged with a Level 1 violation, the highest degree of penalty the NCAA can impose. The institution also faces a Level 1 violation, for an alleged “pattern of noncompliance within the football program” and efforts to obstruct the NCAA’s investigation
Moore faces a Level 2 charge.
It makes Harbaugh’s decision to leave Michigan when he did seem even smarter. He got while the getting was good, riding a national championship tidal wave to a shot at a potential Super Bowl in L.A.
Dwight Freeney was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his second year of eligibility. It likely was a year longer than he likely thought he should wait.
No matter, Freeney saw his bust unveiled Saturday after seven Pro Bowls, three All-Pros, an All-Decade Team, 16 seasons, 47 forced fumbles and 125.5 sacks. His patented spin move still is talked about and copied today.
Colts owner Jim Irsay called Freeney “a twirling dervish” in his presentation of Freeney.
Freeney was the first of seven inductees honored Saturday in a ceremony delayed an hour and 45 minutes by inclement weather, and his speech will be hard to follow.
“I want to thank this great game of football for giving me the opportunity to express myself and my creativity to the world,” Freeney said. “I always felt like I was an artist, and the football field was my canvas, and I am forever grateful for that feeling. One of the things that motivated me was never being completely satisfied with myself and my performance. It’s what drove me to continue to improve my skillset and my mission to perfect my craft and try to dominate every Sunday.
“I realized that in order for me to win battles on the field I had to win the internal battles with myself. I had to keep pushing myself not to be complacent or lazy, to not look for excuses for why something didn’t happen but to make it happen.”
Freeney made an impact as a rookie when he set a team rookie record with 13 sacks and led the NFL with nine forced fumbles and 20 tackles for loss. It was one of seven double-digit sack seasons he had.
He did it at 6 foot 1, 268 pounds.
Freeney played 11 seasons with the Colts and went on to spend time with the Chargers, Cardinals, Falcons, Lions and Seahawks, retiring after the 2017 season.
“From time to time, I think about coming out of retirement for just for one more year,” Freeney said. “Until I realize I can’t even catch my 3-year-old running down the hallway with the TV remote in her hand. It’s crazy. I went from chasing quarterbacks in the league to pulling my hamstring in the hallway chasing my kids.”
Freeney credited his mom for teaching him that “life isn’t a straight road; it’s full of peaks and valleys, and navigating through them is the key.”
“If you’re a young, aspiring, future NFL player, let me say this: Football’s not an easy game, and it can seem like it’s an impossible journey,” Freeney said in ending his speech. “But alwa remember that your hard work and sacrifice are the keys to opening the door to your dreams. People will call you too slow, too short, not tough enough, not strong enough. Use those words as fuel to ignite the internal fire that will motivate you and push to places you never thought were possible.
“All those bumps and bruises that make you want to quit. Fighting through that will make you into a better player and a better person. So I hope that you guys can look at my journey, and what I went through, and know that it’s possible to become who you want to be.”
The Chargers quarterback has an injury that will keep him out of practice for a while, but he should be OK for the start of the season.
Los Angeles announced on Thursday that Justin Herbert has been diagnosed with an injury to the plantar fascia in his right foot. Per doctors’ recommendation, Herbert will spend about two weeks in a walking boot before a gradual return to play. The plan is designed to get Herbert ready to play Week 1.
The Chargers will play the Raiders at home to kick off 2024 on Sept. 8.
Herbert, 26, did not play the last four games of the 2023 season with a finger injury. Before that, he had started 62 consecutive games since surprisingly ascending to QB1 in Week 2 of 2020.
Herbert completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,134 yards with 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2023.
The Chargers also have Easton Stick, Max Duggan, and Casey Bauman on their roster at quarterback.
Chargers rookie linebacker Junior Colson passed his physical Tuesday and began practicing with teammates.
The Chargers activated Colson from the non-football illness list.
Colson underwent surgery to remove his appendix before camp started, and he began camp recovering. He worked with trainers on the side the past two days, according to Kris Rhim of ESPN.
Colson, who played for Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, was a third-round pick of the Chargers. He is expected to compete to be one of the team’s top inside linebackers this season.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is liking what he’s seeing from rookie right tackle Joe Alt in training camp — but sometimes Alt’s enormous presence makes it hard for Herbert to see downfield.
Listed at 6-foot-8 and 322 pounds, Alt is a bigger offensive lineman than Herbert is accustomed to playing with. Herbert said on NFL Network that he’s excited about having a player that size in front of him.
“We view offensive linemen as weapons, to have guys like that, especially at the right tackle position, is a mountain,” Herbert said.
But the 6-foot-6 Herbert acknowledged that Alt poses a challenge he’s not used to: Sometimes Herbert can’t see over Alt when looking for receivers to his right.
“He’s a tough guy even for me to see over sometimes,” Herbert said.
Training camp is the time for Herbert to figure out his lines of vision. When the pass rushers are coming for real in the regular season, Herbert will be glad to have a mountain like Alt in front of him.
Patrick Mahomes has seen plenty of items on his cell phone device in recent days about quarterbacks from other teams making more and more and more money. Because the media has generally accepted new-money annual average as the universal currency for ranking player pay, it looks like Mahomes is woefully underpaid.
The three-time Super Bowl winner, whose worst outcome in any of his six seasons as a starter is losing in overtime of the AFC Championship, has a new-money APY of $45 million. Three quarterbacks (Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love) are at $55 million. Five others (Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts) are north of $50 million.
But there are other ways to look at these contracts. One way is to focus on the cash to be paid in the coming years.
And from 2023-26, as well as 2024-27, one player still leads the way in four-year cash flow. It’s Mahomes.
Here’s the four-year cash flow from 2023 through 2026, per a source with access to the numbers:
1. Mahomes: $210.6 million.
2. Lamar Jackson: $208 million.
3. Deshaun Watson: $184 million.
4. Joe Burrow: $181 million.
5. Daniel Jones:: $160 million.
6. Justin Herbert: $157 million.
7. Jalen Hurts: $157 million.
8. Kyler Murray: $153 million.
9. Josh Allen: $136 million.
10. Matthew Stafford: $121.5 million.
With recent deals included, here’s the four-year cash flow from 2024 through 2027:
1. Mahomes: $215.6 million.
2. Burrow: $213.9 million.
3. Jared Goff: $193.6 million.
4. Tua Tagovailoa: $186.1 million.
5. Jordan Love: $186 million.
6. Hurts: $184 million.
7. Herbert: $182.6 million.
8. Kirk Cousins: $180 million.
9. Jackson: $179.2 million.
10. Trevor Lawrence: $155.5 million.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the player will cash every check. Jones, for example, has little chance of making the $160 million he was due to earn from 2023 through 2026. Ditto for Cousins and his $180 million in Atlanta.
It’s still a factor. An important one. Along with other important factors, like signing bonus, full guarantee at signing, practical guarantee at signing, and the number of years until the team can activate an escape hatch from the rest of the deal.
For some reason, the media at large only ever looks at new-money APY.
Yes, Mahomes still lags on that factor. But he was due to make more than anyone from 2023 through 2026. And he’s due to make more than anyone from 2024 through 2027.
And that’s still a bargain for the Chiefs and for the NFL.
Last month, we took a look at the candidates to be the first player to reach $60 million per year in new-money average.
This week, three names exited the list.
Matthew Stafford, Tua Tagovailoa, and Jordan Love resolved their contract issues. The highest-paid of the trio — Love — fell $5 million short.
So who’s next to get paid, and will he become The Six Million Dollar Man, times ten?
The most obvious candidate continues to be Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. The Cowboys have no way of keeping him from the open market in 2025. Prescott has no qualms about holding firm for what he wants. The question remains whether Jerry Jones, who constantly praises Prescott when the audience consists of those who would buy tickets to games, has to decide whether to put his money where his mouth is, when it comes to the player.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy becomes eligible for a new contract after the 2024 regular season ends. While he could get to $55.1 million (leapfrogging a three-year tie at $55 million), $60 million will be a bridge too far — even if he wins a Super Bowl this year.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is two seasons away from eligibility for a new deal. Given that none of this year’s new deals have beaten the high-water mark set by Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow last year, it very well could be that no one will get to $60 million before Stroud signs his second deal.
Then we have the guys who have already gotten paid who might be closing in on another bite at the apple — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Mahomes, at $45 million per year, received a bump in his cash flow last year. He’ll likely get another before he signs a new contract, given that it runs into the next decade. Allen, as previously mentioned, is due to get paid again.
And Jackson, who should have had his second contract two years earlier than he got it, might be thinking about accelerating the timetable for his third, especially since the two-time league MVP has now seen six quarterbacks jump his $52 million per year. And, between them, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert ($52.5 million), Lions quarterback Jared Goff ($53 million), Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1 million), and Burrow, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and Packers quarterback Jordan Love ($55 million), have zero NFL MVP wins.
So who’s next? And who gets to $60 million first? Prescott or Purdy will be next. Prescott or Stroud are likely to get to $60 million — unless Mahomes, Allen, or Jackson successfully force the issue.