EL SEGUNDO — What if your star quarterback just … isn’t a star?
In terms of a limelight-loving, big-box-office ticket, capital-P Personality?
Watching the film of Chargers QB Justin Herbert giving curt, calorie-free answers at his news conference after Wednesday’s minicamp session, I actually wondered for the first time whether those folks had been onto something in 2020, when they argued that the eventual No. 6 overall pick was too introverted to be the face of an NFL franchise.
It had always seemed a silly insinuation, I thought, because his numbers at Oregon were plenty loud. The Ducks went 27-8 over his final three seasons and averaged 37.2 points in his 42 career starts. He finished second in program history with 95 touchdown passes 10,541 passing yards and as the all-time leader in completions (827). He was the Rose Bowl MVP, for goodness’ sake!
But before a familiar cast of beat writers on Wednesday, Herbert sounded a little like a kid whose teacher was forcing him to share with the class and not so much like an NFL quarterback entering his sixth pro season.
He was asked about the Chargers’ game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 5 in Brazil, and he volunteered that he’s only been out of the country once. But then offered not much more when the obvious follow-up questions came his way.
Where’d you go? “Uganda.” Oh! For what? “Kind of like a team trip in college with other student-athletes from Oregon.” End of story. Well, OK. Thanks for sharing, Justin.
Leave aside the fact that someone on a $262.5 million dollar deal hasn’t felt the itch to travel. His first public remarks since the Chargers’ AFC wild-card debacle against the Houston Texans five months ago – the worst time for Herbert to have his worst game, that four-interception stinker – made me wonder whether he’s incredibly locked in or incredibly determined to keep the rest of us locked out.
It might not matter if the Chargers had won even one playoff game in Herbert’s tenure. It definitely wouldn’t if they’d won a few.
Because leadership is more about authenticity than volume, more about substance than style. Actions over words. And quiet people? Their words, when they use them, weigh more – plus there’s substantially smaller risk of them saying something stupid.
But there’s giving away nothing and there’s giving nothing.
Imagine you were casting for Herbert’s role – lead on a team performing America’s favorite sport in one of the nation’s biggest, most-competitive and celebrity-saturated markets.
In walks a fellow who can sing and dance, who can memorize a script backward and forward in a few days, and who absolutely looks the part – but who can’t act it, not really.
Does he get the gig?
Listen, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s carefully cultivated image doesn’t leave much room for expansive conversation in any language. And the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard is known, ironically, as the “Fun Guy” because he’s actually so stoic.
But those guys have won championships and MVPs and, yes, playoff games. They might be their teams’ biggest draws, the faces of their franchises, but they’re also not quarterbacks.
It’s such a difficult job with such a specific array of requirements, including talent and toughness, work ethic and competitiveness – all things Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh and Herbert’s teammates rave about him having.
Like left tackle Rashawn Slater, who said of Herbert on Wednesday: “He’s just the same person all the time. He’s the fiercest competitor I’ve ever been around. Just always locked in, always very serious about it … once you’re in the huddle with him, it’s time to go.”
But isn’t there a difference between a proctor and pastor?
Slater also spoke about veteran linebacker Khalil Mack: “The way he talks about his aspirations, wanting to win a Super Bowl, that means a lot. Everyone here feels and sees that, to have a guy like that, leading like that.”
Do you also need your signal-caller to be a “yapper”?
That’s a title proudly worn by charismatic linebacker Daiyan Henley. Guys like that are good for a team: “You need that,” Henley said. “It brings confidence, and confidence brings better play.” And the Chargers are fortunate to have a handful of them sprinkled on their roster; Ladd McConkey, Derwin James Jr., Khalil Mack and even Tuli Tuipulotu among them, Henley said. Does it matter if Herbert isn’t one of them?
Isn’t it more important that Herbert commands the offense than the room, more important that he wins on the field than that he wins the news conference? More important that he can get a defensive player to bite on a route than that he’d have reporters – those conduits to the fans who will defend Herbert online ’till their thumbs fall off – eating out of the palm of his hand?
What if, though, all those things are actually interconnected? What if bravado at the podium translates to the field? Is there a reason the guys who get cast as QB1s, the ones who take on those tough jobs and earn the big bucks for doing it, usually can bring it in front of cameras and in the clutch?
That’s not to say a quarterback with Herbert’s attributes and intangibles can’t or won’t win playoff games. Because, really, he should.
The question is why he hasn’t.
Harbaugh said earlier this week that he’s hesitant to use the word “comfortable” to describe the vibe entering his second season at the helm, even if things are more familiar. Because football isn’t supposed to be comfortable. The real fun is in the going for it when things are hard or perhaps annoying; the real winning is in learning to open up and let fly, especially when it’s uncomfortable.