Justin Herbert has knocked Jim Harbaugh down a peg, at least in terms of toughness.
The Los Angeles Chargers head coach, who played in the league for 14 seasons, used to believe he was the toughest quarterback in NFL history. After spending roughly half a season around Herbert, though, Harbaugh has a new answer.
“There’s nobody tougher,” Harbaugh said of Herbert on Monday’s “The Herd.”
“There’s my own personal ranking, and it’s my right to have my own personal ranking. So I’m going to preface this with that: It’s not anybody else’s, it’s mine,” Harbaugh explained. “But I’ve always considered myself the toughest quarterback in the history of the National Football League. Being around Justin Herbert, I have moved to No. 2 in the rankings. Justin Herbert is the toughest quarterback in the history of the National Football League.”
Herbert’s displayed toughness for much of his five-year NFL career. The Chargers quarterback has played through numerous ailments, such as a broken finger in 2023 and fractured rib cartilage in 2022. He also played while dealing with an ankle sprain earlier in the 2024 season.
Jim Harbaugh: Justin Herbert is the ‘toughest QB in the history of the NFL’
Harbaugh measured Herbert’s toughness in another way.
“It’s become, like, Hack-a-Shaq. Remember, remember the old Shaq days and they just hacked him? [Herbert is] so big and he’s so tough to get on the ground. The ball’s thrown and it could be the ball’s 10 yards downfield and there’s still somebody trying to wrestle and grapple him to the ground. He gets hit when he goes out of bounds. He gets hit in the head. He gets facemasked during the play. It’s incredible.”
For much of his career, Herbert has been among the best quarterbacks at avoiding sacks when pressured. His pressure-to-sack rate was below 16% in each of his first four seasons, per Pro Football Focus, which ranked near the top of the league’s starters. This year, his pressure-to-sack-rate has increased to 22.8%, which is more in the middle of the pack among regular starting quarterbacks.
Harbaugh thinks Herbert’s grit goes beyond the field.
“I just don’t have enough adjectives to describe what being around this young man is like and just how fortunate we are as an organization to have him as our quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve all heard of people that make a lot of money, and money makes people complacent. Not Justin Herbert. He was right back in here. I know where to find him. 6:30, 7:30 in the morning on an off day, he’s right down there in the weight room, or getting extra film work. Never comes in disheveled, never sleepy.
“He’s like a jackhammer, just always attacking.”
That “jackhammer” mentality has helped the Chargers get off to a good start. They improved to 5-3 following their 27-10 win over the Cleveland Browns as they hope to make the postseason.
But Los Angeles is winning in a way that it hasn’t throughout much of Herbert’s career. The Chargers haven’t had to rely on their quarterback to throw a few dozen times to win games, with Herbert throwing fewer than 35 passes in each of their five wins. As a result, Herbert’s volume stats have taken a hit this season. He’s 21st in the NFL in passing yards (1,725) and tied for 15th in passing touchdowns (10) through Week 9.
Still, there are some other metrics where he’s among the best in the league. He’s 10th in the league in passer rating (101.6), eighth in yards per attempt (7.7) and first in touchdown-to-interceptions ratio (10:1).
Harbaugh believes Herbert’s name belongs with the best of the best at the position.
“There’s nobody better, there’s nobody,” Harbaugh said. “Lamar [Jackson] is playing really good, and I think those two are playing at a really high level right now, and some others. But I don’t think anybody’s playing better than Justin Herbert is.
“It’s a love and an admiration that we have for Justin. He’s incredible in everything that he does. We could spend the whole show talking about him, but it just hits me like this: Every day when we go out there to practice, we’re around greatness. This is, this is what greatness looks like.”
Even though Harbaugh is only eight games into his partnership with Herbert, he already knows that there’s no one else he wants under center.
“God willing and the creek don’t rise, this will be the only quarterback I ever coach again.”
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