You can officially stick a fork in the Los Angeles Chargers season, as the team announced that QB Justin Herbert will undergo season ending finger surgery this week.
The 25 year old was in visible pain after taking a hit from Broncos DE Zach Allen in the 2nd quarter of his team’s 24-7 loss Sunday. Although he stayed in the game to finish out the series, he would depart shortly thereafter to the locker room and did not return.
The end result is a fractured index finger on Herbert’s right hand, which will cost him the remainder of the 2023 campaign. The Chargers’ QB will finish the year with 3,134 passing yards, 20 TDs and 7 INTs in what’s been a disappointing season for Los Angeles.
Sitting at 5-8 on the year, head coach Brandon Staley told reporters Monday “Certainly, there’s nothing more important than that than his right hand. And his long-term future. He’s 25 years old and he’s got a really, really bright future in front of him. So, like I said, every decision we make is going to be with that in mind.”
Prior to going down, Herbert had started 62 consecutive games for LA, which was the 2nd longest active streak in the NFL by a QB trailing only Josh Allen. In his place, the Chargers will turn to 2019 5th round draft pick Easton Stick in their Thursday night showdown with the Raiders. Rookie QB Max Duggan will serve as Stick’s backup.
“It’s tough,” Chargers WR Keenan Allen said. “When we are practice, we’re pretty much with [Herbert] the whole time, so having Stick in there, we know Stick can make those plays. We know he’s got the knowledge for the game. He’s been around for a long time. So the confidence was still high in Stick, but obviously, Herbo is our guy.”
While still not mathematically eliminated from postseason contention just yet, many Chargers fans have begun turning their attention to the offseason, and the upcoming NFL draft. One piece of business which seems to be fairly unanimous amongst the fanbase is the desire for a change in direction at the coaching level. #FireStaley was trending on Twitter during the 2nd half of the Broncos vs. Chargers game, and remained a hot topic of conversation in the days that followed.
The 41 year old was brought in from the Rams in 2021 after serving as the team’s Defensive Coordinator where his unit was 1st in points and total yards allowed in 2020. However that level of success hasn’t translated to his tenure with the Chargers despite having a talented roster, loaded with impact players on both sides of the ball.
Since joining Los Angeles, Staley’s squad has gone 24-23 (.511) including an embarrassing playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in which his team led 27-0 at one point, before ultimately losing 31-30. The Ohio native is in the 3rd year of a 4 year contract which reportedly pays him $4M annually.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.