Los Angeles Chargers star quarterback Justin Herbert is reportedly having the best training camp of his career, and it is all due to a major addition to the offensive coaching staff.
After three seasons leading the Chargers’ offense, Justin Herbert has confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that he is as good as scouts thought he could be when he was the sixth player taken in the 2020 NFL Draft. However, while he was still highly effective last season, he took some steps back in certain key areas of production.
His passing yards, touchdowns, yards per game, passer rating, and QB rating declined in 2022. While it didn’t lead to a regression in wins — the Chargers won 10 games last season — Herbert and the coaching staff were well aware that they needed to fix some things in the passing game ahead of the 2023 season. However, Los Angeles did not expect the Dallas Cowboys to unexpectedly assist them in that pursuit.
Kellen Moore having a major affect on Justin Herbert in Chargers camp
Dallas stunned the football world during the offseason by firing respected offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and tabbing head coach Mike McCarthy to call plays next season. That surprise departure seems to have been the Chargers’ gain because head coach Brandon Staley claims the 25-year-old is having the best NFL training camp of his short career. And it is all due to Moore’s influence in 2023.
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“He makes the game easy for the quarterback. He really allows the quarterback to play fast, and what we’re really trying to do is get Justin to play fast and be aggressive — not just, like, in the deep part of the field, which is what everyone wants to focus on. … Last year, we were just trying to make it work, and we did — he threw for 4,700 yards. I know it wasn’t stylistically what people would want to see from him, but it was kind of how we had to play.
“But Kellen does such a good job of getting the quarterback to play fast, giving him that green light to go. And I don’t think he bogs the quarterbacks down with some things that don’t matter. Because of his playing experience, he can engineer the plan where this guy can really go.”
– Brandon Staley
Justin Herbert has already been pretty good at taking the Chargers to another level. If Moore can bring even more out of him, that is something very scary for the other AFC West teams.