Justin Herbert’s struggles will be the final, sour impression of the season after he had four passes intercepted against the Texans. Until he gets over the hump, Herbert’s lack of postseason success is the ultimate hurdle before he cracks the top echelon of quarterbacks.
Still, the Chargers need to keep surrounding their star quarterback with talent.
A record-setting rookie season put Ladd McConkey ahead of former first-round pick Quentin Johnston as the Chargers’ top receiver. McConkey, a second-round draft pick in 2024, added to his franchise rookie season records for receiving yards (1,149) and catches (82) by finishing the year with 197 yards receiving against the Texans, an NFL rookie playoff record.
Johnston took a step forward during his second professional year with 711 yards receiving and eight touchdowns during the regular season, but had a team-high 9.8% drop rate among receivers, according to Pro Football Focus, which exacerbated concerns from his rookie season.
Johnston had starring moments, including a 13-catch, 186-yard outburst against the Raiders in Week 18, but also was held without a catch against the Ravens and the Texans, despite five targets in each of the critical games. He had four combined drops in the games.
“The reality of it is you can’t go back and redo it,” Johnston said. “So sometimes you got to turn on your highlight tape and turn on some good plays you did, kind of just remind yourself, like, ‘yeah, I’m capable of doing what I said I can do.’ Obviously I wasn’t brought here for no reason.”
Major free agent signing D.J. Chark Jr. never made an impact after a preseason hip injury cost him eight games. He settled for four catches for 31 yards and one touchdown during the regular season with one more catch for 15 yards against the Texans. He came aboard as the Chargers’ only receiver with a 1,000-yard season to his credit and now hits free agency again after the quietest season of his career.
The Chargers have more than $73 million in cap space this offseason, according to overthecap.com. The total ranks fourth-most in the NFL.
