Justin Herbert Trending Towards Playing In Week 4

The last we saw of Justin Herbert was the Chargers quarterback limping off the field midway through the third quarter of last weekend’s loss to the Steelers. Head coach Jim Harbaugh made the move to sub in backup Taylor Heinicke, likely a smart move as Heinicke was sacked three more times in the remainder of the contest. As we approach Week 4, there seems to be an increasing expectation that Herbert will be back behind center when Los Angeles hosts the Chiefs on Sunday.

Herbert had been nursing an ankle injury all week after getting rolled up on in the team’s Week 2 matchup. Throughout the week there were questions on whether or not he would even play in Pittsburgh. Nevertheless, Herbert made the start, and the offense struggled to pick up where it had left off in the previous week before ultimately losing their quarterback in the second half.

Initially, rumors seemed to indicate that there was a chance Herbert would be benched until the team’s Week 5 bye in order to rest. This would have entailed him skipping this week’s matchup with their division-leading rival, but Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported today that Herbert “doesn’t think that’s the way (they’re) heading,” indicating that he was trending towards playing this week.

Supporting that theory, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tells us that Herbert was listed as a limited participant at practice today. Daniel Popper of The Athletic adds that, according to Harbaugh, an MRI on Monday showed progress in Hebert’s healing, and the quarterback has ditched the protective walking boot. Herbert claimed that he’s feeling “less pain” and was able to do some 7-on-7 work at practice today.

With two more days of practice until the weekend, all signs are pointing to a return for Herbert on Sunday. There’s always a chance of an injury flare up sometime during the week, but things are trending in the right direction as of right now.