LAC · QB
Projected Points (PPR)
This week
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Justin Herbert sits atop the Los Angeles Chargers depth chart as the unquestioned starter, taking 100% of offensive snaps through the first three games of 2026 after holding 97.3% of the team's snaps across all sixteen games in 2025. That workload is not shared or threatened; this is a full-season, every-dropback job. Last season produced 512 pass attempts, 340 completions for a completion percentage of 66.41%, 3,727 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns against 13 interceptions, plus 83 rush attempts for 498 yards and two rushing touchdowns, which totaled 299.88 PPR points, 18.7 points per game, and a finish of QB10. Through three games in 2026 he has thrown 88 times, completed 52, for 627 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions, with twelve rush attempts for 48 yards, totaling 37.88 PPR points, 12.6 per game, and a current finish of QB24. The passing volume is there — on pace to approach or exceed last year's attempts — but the efficiency has slipped, with completion percentage down from 66.41% to 59.09% and the interception rate climbing. The receiving corps around him is led by Ladd McConkey as the clear number two wide receiver by name recognition entering his second season, with Quentin Johnston as the other wideout option in year three, Omarion Hampton as the primary running back in his rookie year, and Oronde Gadsden as the tight end in his first season. That is a young supporting cast still establishing chemistry with Herbert, which helps explain the early-season efficiency dip even as his snap share and attempt totals remain central to the game plan.
The case for Justin Herbert starts with opportunity: he is attempting the ball at a rate consistent with his 2025 total of 512 attempts, and quarterbacks who throw that often have a scoring floor that survives bad weeks. His rushing contribution, 498 yards and two touchdowns last season and already 48 yards on twelve attempts through three games this year, adds a scrambling dimension that keeps his points per game from collapsing even when the passing game stalls. A full offseason with Ladd McConkey, now in his second year, and the development of Oronde Gadsden as a receiving option at tight end in his rookie season, could sharpen the timing that has been inconsistent early. Quentin Johnston, in his third season, remains a names-on-paper complement who has not yet forced defenses to respect him the way a true second receiving threat would, and that matters for Herbert's efficiency ceiling. The case against him is written in the per-game trend. Herbert finished QB10 in PPR scoring last season at 18.7 points per game; through three games in 2026 he sits at QB24, averaging 12.6. The completion percentage has fallen from 66.41% to 59.09%, and he has already thrown four interceptions against three touchdowns, a worse ratio than his 26-to-13 mark across all of 2025. Some of that is explainable by a receiving corps still finding its footing — Omarion Hampton is a rookie at running back, Gadsden a rookie tight end, and Johnston has not developed into a reliable second target — but the box score does not care about explanations. A quarterback who throws 512 times a season needs his catch rate to hold up, and right now it has not. The honest read is that Herbert's role guarantees volume but not efficiency, and the two early differences — more interceptions, lower completion rate — are the kind that can either self-correct as a young group of pass catchers matures or persist if the chemistry never arrives. His rushing floor is real but modest; 498 yards and two touchdowns on the ground last season is a complement, not a foundation. Managers should weigh his attempt volume as a stabilizing force while recognizing that his current points per game, 12.6, reflects a real step back from last year's 18.7, not just noise over a small sample.
Treat Justin Herbert as a streaming-caliber option right now rather than an automatic plug-in. His full share of offensive snaps and attempt volume mean he will throw enough to matter in most weeks, but the drop from 18.7 points per game last season to 12.6 so far this season, paired with a completion percentage down to 59.09% and four interceptions in three games, argues against treating him as a locked-in starter in shallower formats. In two-quarterback or superflex leagues, his volume alone keeps him rosterable. In single-quarterback leagues, check the weekly matchup and the health of his receiving options — Ladd McConkey's usage and any signs of Oronde Gadsden or Quentin Johnston developing into reliable targets — before committing him over a comparable streaming quarterback. What would change the calculus: a stretch of games where his completion percentage climbs back toward last year's 66.41% mark and the interceptions dry up would restore confidence that last season's QB10 finish, not this season's QB24 pace, is the real baseline. Until that shows up in the box score, use him as a matchup-dependent start, not a locked weekly plug-in, and keep an eye on whether his rushing production, currently 48 yards on twelve attempts, continues to supplement a passing game still searching for its footing with a young set of weapons.
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