5 reasons Justin Herbert belongs in the MVP conversation
Justin Herbert has just had a couple of awesome weeks.
First he bested Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. This week he defeated the previously undefeated Las Vegas Raiders. The time has come to consider Justin Herbert among the MVP contenders.
Here are some reasons why he deserves to be there.
5 Reasons Justin Herbert can be the MVP
#1 - Herbert is good at protecting the ball
There are many good throwers of the ball. But what sets elite quarterbacks apart is that they do not turn the ball over. In his last game, Justin Herbert threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions, and in the process he became just the third quarterback to reach six such games within their first two seasons.
Justin Herbert now has six games with 3 TD and 0 INT, tied for the most by any QB in NFL history in his first two seasons.
He's played just 19 games.
Only Lamar Jackson and Dan Marino are tied with him, and should Justin Herbert have one more game with three touchdowns and zero interceptions, he will take sole possession of the record.
#2 - Herbert is possibly the best thrower in the NFL
In terms of well-thrown balls, Justin Herbert is in the top five this season with 84.4% of his passes well-thrown. Only Andy Dalton, Kirk Cousins, Kyler Murray and Dak Prescott are ahead of him. But among them all, he also has the highest air yards at 7.34 average air yards per throw, which shows that he makes deep throws better than the rest of that group of quarterbacks.
#3 - His elite passing numbers
In an increasingly pass-happy league, Justin Herbert has shown he belongs. He reached 500 passes in his career in just his 19th start, making him the first quarterback ever to do so before 20 games. It allows us to predict that Justin Herbert is going to be among the leaders in passing plays, at least in the coming season.
#4 - His ability to extend drives
Quarterbacks are not just supposed to throw Hollywood passes, but they should be able to extend plays to get as many first downs as possible before ultimately getting a touchdown.
When the Los Angeles Chargers downed the Las Vegas Raiders, Hebert had no incompletions in his first six passes. Later in the game, he led the team on a nine-play drive, in which he completed his last five passes; the final one leading to a touchdown.
#5 - His clutch mentality
Finally, what sets champions apart from others is their mentality. In the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, there was less than a minute left on the clock to get the winning touchdown and he successfully did so.
I'm watching the Chargers-Chiefs game and reading the stat sheet. Justin Herbert is 16-26 for 251 yards and 1 TD in his last-minute rookie debut against the defending Super Bowl Champions.
The Chargers are currently shutting down Mahomes and winning 17-6. Completely stunned.
That clutch mentality wins you games and quarterbacks that win a lot of games for their teams generally become MVPs. Justin Herbert is firmly in the mix.