The Facts: As the head coach of one of the league’s top young quarterbacks, one of Brandon Staley’s most important tasks is to make sure Herbert's trajectory keeps pointing up. At this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, Staley said continuity in the offensive system will help the quarterbacks’ comfort. And he’ll have a better understanding of defenses after two seasons as a starter. “He’s got now double the inventory of experiences,” Staley said. “He has inventory on all these coordinators like hey, ‘I’ve faced this style of defense and I’ve been in these situations, you know it’s not a big deal for me and I’m just going to keep building.’ Now what we have to keep doing is just keep expanding that knowledge, really emphasize the thing he does well, and then onboard a bunch of personnel that can bring out the best in him.”

Diehards Line:Though the Chargers didn’t make the playoffs in 2021, Herbert still had a strong second season. He threw for 5,014 yards with 38 touchdowns and 15 interceptions with Los Angeles ending the season at 9-8. As Staley noted, one of the factors working in Herbert’s favor is that he’ll have continuity within the offensive coaching staff in 2021. Joe Lombardi returns as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator and Shane Day is the team’s passing game coordinator/QBs coach. While Herbert appears on track to continue developing into an elite quarterback, the Chargers will have to improve their defense in order to be a true championship contender.