Chargers receive tough update on Justin Herbert finger injury

Quarterback Justin Herbert was forced to exit Sunday’s game when he apparently injured his finger. At the time, we didn’t know much as Herbert was ruled out and undressed from his pads but remained on the sideline to watch his backup Easton Stick. Now, it’s been reported that Herbert suffered a fracture to the index finger on his throwing hand, according to Kris Rhim of ESPN.

Head coach Brandon Staley was the one to report the injury, though he did not have any information on a timetable for Herbert’s return to play. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the plan is for Herbert to undergo an MRI scan Monday on the injured finger in order to determine the severity of the injury. More specifically, Rapoport’s post stated that they will look to determine “how long he’s out and if he’ll be able to return this season,” painting the potential outcome in a fairly negative light.

If the Chargers are forced to play games without Herbert, Stick would likely be the starter moving forward. Since being drafted in the fifth round back in 2019, Stick had only appeared in one game before Sunday. He played two snaps in Week 6 of the 2020 season, completing his lone attempted pass for four yards. Sunday, he saw his first extended action. In just over a half of play, Stick completed 13-of-24 pass attempts for 179 yards. He did lead the Chargers down the field on a touchdown drive late in the game by completing two big passes to rookie wide receiver Quentin Johnston before letting Ekeler punch it in from three yards out.

Even if Herbert only requires a short recovery period, the Chargers face a short week with their next game coming on Thursday night in Las Vegas. If Stick earns his first start in the upcoming week, he’ll have to be backed up by practice squad quarterback Max Duggan, the rookie teammate of rookie wide receivers Johnston and Derius Davis. Duggan would need to be called up as a standard gameday elevation or signed to the active roster in order to be on the active roster this week.

There’s another question that begs attention. How much time does Herbert need to be out – and how many games do the Chargers need to lose – to shut him down for the season. Los Angeles just committed to making Herbert the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL (outdone shortly thereafter by Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow‘s deal), locking him down with a five-year extension. If the playoffs start to appear out of reach, it may be in the best interest of Herbert in the team to hold him out for the rest of the year. Let him recover with little-to-no strain and don’t risk doing any sort of permanent damage to your massive investment.

The Chargers don’t have to make that call just yet. They will look at the results of his scans Monday and have a much better idea of what the short-term future looks like. While he may need more time than three days and could miss Thursday, there’s still a chance Herbert recovers easily and is back for the last few weeks of the season. Still, with the pessimism displayed in Rapoport’s report and the season beginning to wind down, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think that we’ve seen the last of Herbert this year.