EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert underwent successful surgery Monday afternoon to stabilize a fracture in his non-throwing hand, the team announced.
“Herbert’s return to play is considered day-to-day,” the Chargers said, “and his status for next Monday’s game against Philadelphia will be determined later in the week.”
The Chargers will return to practice Wednesday ahead of their prime-time game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The final injury report — including game statuses — will be released Saturday.
Herbert last spoke Sunday night after the Chargers’ 31-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He was hopeful about his chances of playing against the Eagles based on his initial conversations with doctors, though he had not yet had surgery.
“I’m treating it as if I’m playing on Monday,” Herbert said then.
Herbert broke his hand on a play in the first quarter Sunday. Herbert escaped to his left on a scramble and was tackled in the open field by Raiders safety Jeremy Chinn. After the game Sunday evening, Herbert said he did not know exactly when during the play the injury occurred. Replays of the collision showed Herbert’s left hand colliding with Chinn’s helmet during the tackle.
Jeremy Chinn’s hard hit on Justin Herbert led to his injury. (Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Images)
Herbert went back to the locker room and missed eight plays. Backup Trey Lance replaced him. Herbert returned in the second quarter and finished the game. Hebert said after the game that the training staff placed a hard cast on his left hand. Herbert was wearing a white glove when he returned to the game. His ring and middle fingers were taped together.
If Herbert is able to play next week against the Eagles, there will be a looming question: How much can he play under center?
Herbert did not take a single snap under center after suffering the injury Sunday. The Chargers operated exclusively out of shotgun and pistol formations.
Coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday that the Chargers were able to execute some of their under-center plays out of pistol. In that formation, the quarterback is aligned detached from the center, but the running back still aligns behind the quarterback. So the angles can be replicated on some under-center run concepts. However, Harbaugh also admitted “there are certain plays it takes you out of” when an offense is forced to play on only shotgun and/or pistol.
Primarily, this will limit the amount of bootleg actions and quarterback-movement concepts the Chargers can run. These are concepts that can help mitigate very good defensive fronts, which the Eagles have. So, if Herbert cannot play under center, the Chargers will have to find other schematic ways to keep the Eagles’ pass rushers off balance.
“We’ll see where the week takes us and what we can do,” Harbaugh said.
Herbert has experience playing through a broken bone in his non-throwing hand. In 2023, he broke a bone in his middle left finger during a Week 4 game against the Raiders. The Chargers went on their bye the following week. In Week 6, the Chargers played the Dallas Cowboys on “Monday Night Football.” (There are quite a few coincidences between the timelines.)
Herbert was under center on only 6.6 percent of his offensive snaps in that Cowboys game, according to TruMedia. It had been the lowest under-center rate of his career — until Sunday, when he was under center for just 5.3 percent of his snaps.
In that Cowboys game, the Chargers featured a higher volume of pistol looks. Herbert played 12 snaps in pistol in that game, tied for the second-most pistol snaps in any game in his career. His most pistol snaps came in Week 4 of 2023, the game he broke his middle finger. Herbert played 12 snaps of pistol against the Raiders on Sunday.
“We improvised and adjusted,” Harbaugh said, “and many of the under-center plays you can do in pistol.”
Justin Herbert was under center for just 5.3 percent of his snaps on Sunday. (Keith Birmingham / MediaNews Group / Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
Herbert playing under center against the Eagles will depend primarily on how confident he is in his ballhandling and ball security. In that 2023 Cowboys game, the Chargers called plays that largely prevented Herbert from handing the ball off with his left hand. He had only one left-handed handoff in the game.
The following week, in Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Herbert resumed handing the ball off regularly with his left hand.
Herbert used either his right hand or both hands on handoffs Sunday against the Raiders, including on runs to the right side. Typically, Herbert uses his left hand when handing off for runs to the right side.
“As a quarterback, when it comes to handing off, you get really good at it,” said Harbaugh, who played 14 seasons of quarterback in the NFL. “You get ambidextrous with it where you can do it with an off hand. Like a card dealer, they’re very good at things like that.”
The Chargers also have backup Lance as an option in certain under-center situations. Herbert said Sunday night that Lance was ready to come into the game if the Chargers wanted to go under center at the goal line or in the four-minute drill. That did not end up happening.
But Harbaugh said Monday that the Chargers will get Lance more reps in practice this week in those situations to prepare.
“Justin, he’s one of those quarterbacks that takes all the (practice) reps. He’s a machine like that,” Harbaugh said. “We’re going to make sure that Trey’s getting more of those goal-line reps, those situations under center. We need to do a better job of that.”
Losing under-center capabilities after Herbert’s injury did limit the playbook for offensive coordinator Greg Roman on Sunday. For instance, the Chargers faced a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter, and Roman called a shotgun run to Kimani Vidal up the middle that was stuffed. Harbaugh said Monday that the coaches were immediately “kicking ourselves” for the call.
“There was a couple other options we could have gone with,” Harbaugh said, mentioning both an under-center run with Lance at quarterback or a sneak with tight end Tyler Conklin taking the snap and carrying the ball. The Chargers successfully converted a sneak with Conklin against the Chiefs in Week 1.
Herbert has played through some brutal injuries in his career. Like in 2022, when he fractured his rib cartilage and did not miss a game. Later that season, he tore the labrum in his left shoulder and did not miss a game. He did not miss a game after that broken middle finger in 2023. He suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2 of 2024 and did not miss a game.
“When you think there’s not another rung that he can possibly go, he finds it,” Harbaugh said of Herbert’s toughness. “It’s impressive.”