Chargers Possibly Trading Justin Herbert Gets Shaky Matthew Stafford Comparisons

The Los Angeles Chargers are in a hole of their own digging so deep that the Justin Herbert trade suggestions have arrived.

So have the comparisons to Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions.

No wonder. The Chargers are 0-4 and have looked like the most uncompetitive, unprepared team in football. Jim Harbaugh has no answers. Mike McDaniel’s offense and every single one of his former Miami Dolphins players look lost. Herbert has played one good half of football, which is even pushing it a bit.

And incredibly, there’s no viable path to a turnaround despite the Chargers still sitting on roughly $30 million in cap space.

Hence, the budding idea that a full-blown organizational reset should be on the table.

Chargers starting over by trading Justin Herbert outlook

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert — Justin Herbert | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For the Chargers, there’s no escaping the Stafford-Lions comparisons and suggestions.

Those Lions shipped away Stafford for multiple first-round picks and shrewdly used the resources to build a contender. Stafford went West and blossomed in a better organization and surroundings.

The parallels to Herbert and the Chargers are simple enough. Gilberto Manzano of Sports Illustrated is one prominent name suggesting it’s time to consider the move: “If the Chargers net multiple draft picks for Herbert and land a top-five pick as a result of their own miserable season, they could get a top quarterback and top wide receiver in what should be a loaded NFL draft.”

It’s early October, but Chargers fans know some of the names: Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Miami quarterback Darian Mensah. It goes on and on.

The Chargers’ own ineptitude has led to this point. Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz seem more focused on compensatory picks than protecting Herbert. The organization paid up for Harbaugh and McDaniel, but Hortiz has done a supremely poor job of putting good weapons around the quarterback. McDaniel, and those before him, don’t take the guard position nearly seriously enough for the modern NFL, either.

The result is Herbert looking checked out. Who can blame him? It’s not fun to have a top-10 passer and trade him at the age of 28, but selling high while the Chargers can net potentially a trio of first-round picks is starting to become a more interesting conversation.

With core names like Khalil Mack, Derwin James and even Denzel Perryman getting up there in age and so many holes on the roster, starting over with an entirely new program post-Herbert trade becomes a tad more interesting with each loss.

Will a Herbert trade happen? Unlikely for a tidal wave of reasons. But it’s getting hard to fault those who float the idea.

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