Warren Sharp says ‘the sky is the limit’ for Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers

By all accounts, the things that we saw former Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert do on the field with the Los Angeles Chargers in his rookie year were remarkable.

Thrown into the fire with a new coaching staff and short notice before his first start, Herbert went on to pass for more touchdowns than any rookie ever and was the best QB in the league on third-downs in the first half of games.

Herbert did all of this despite playing with a subpar running game, standing behind a porous offensive line, and taking calls from a coaching staff that was fired shortly after the season.

Not exactly ideal, but the Oregon legend managed to thrive.

So what does that mean for his sophomore campaign with the Chargers? According to NFL analyst Warren Sharp, the sky is the limit for this team.

A major note from Sharp was how unlucky the Chargers have been over the past two seasons, losing a total of 16 one-possession games in that span. Field goals have strayed left of right, calls have gone against them, and a regression to the mean is bound to happen at some point. Because of that, Sharp is confident that Herbert can make a leap with the Chargers.

“This team, with a brand new coaching staff, absolutely can get back on track this year,” Sharp said. “I love Justin Herbert, I love the improvements they made to the offensive line. There is some work to be done here in a difficult division, but I think the sky is the limit for the LA Chargers in 2021, especially if they get better luck and make better decisions from a playcalling perspective early in games.”

Sharp mentioned the lack of success on early downs for LA, which was a big hole for them in 2020. Quite often, Herbert would find himself in third-and-long situations, which are hard to get out of. Fortunately, Justin was highly successful when asked to convert, but that’s not something you want to be asked to do multiple times per game.

“One thing they need to do this year is to improve Justin Herbert on early downs,” Sharp said. “He was incredible on third down last year, but that’s not something that was sustainable, and this team had the third most third-down attempts in the first half of games. They’ve got to avoid these third-down attempts, and you can do that by being more efficient in the early downs.”

After quickly shaking off the first-round bust predictions and blazing to an Offensive Rookie of the Year Award win, Herbert set the bar pretty high. We will see what he can do under a new coaching staff in LA this season while contending with an AFC West division that should be even stronger than a season ago.

But if last year is any indication of what the Oregon legend is capable of in the NFL, then Sharp is truly spot on — the sky is the limit for this team.

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