Justin Herbert NFL Top 100 Ranking: Why No. 39 Feels Too Low
- Football Nation
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
No. 39 sounds like elite company until the name beside it is Justin Herbert. The NFL’s official 2026 Top 100 reveal placed the Los Angeles Chargers quarterback 39th overall, his sixth consecutive appearance and the second-highest placement of his career. That is verified recognition from his peers. It is also the latest spark in a broader quarterback debate: is Herbert being judged fairly for what he produced in 2025, or too harshly for the circumstances around him?
The tension is easy to see. An ESPN panel of more than 70 league executives, coaches and scouts ranked Herbert seventh among quarterbacks in July. Bleacher Report separately placed him second among potential first-time MVP candidates for 2026. Those are opinions and projections, not confirmed outcomes. But combined with the player-voted Top 100 result, they make Herbert’s ranking one of the more interesting evaluation gaps of the preseason.
Justin Herbert’s NFL Top 100 ranking: what is confirmed
The Chargers’ official announcement confirmed that Herbert landed at No. 39 on August 3. The ranking is his sixth straight appearance on the NFL Top 100 and trails only his career-best placement on the annual list.
Herbert’s official 2025 line was 3,727 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes, 13 interceptions and a 94.1 passer rating across 16 starts. He also ran for a career-high 498 yards and two touchdowns. The Chargers say he faced a league-high 263 pressures, was sacked 54 times and played the final stretch with a fractured left hand. Those details matter because the raw passing totals do not fully describe the burden he carried.
Justin Herbert directs the Chargers offense before the snap against Washington at SoFi Stadium during Week 5 of the 2025 season. Photo: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The cover uses a 16:9 crop of this photograph.
Why No. 39 can feel too low
The strongest case for moving Herbert higher starts with context. He finished ninth in passing yards and tied for seventh in passing touchdowns despite constant disruption in front of him. His 498 rushing yards ranked second among quarterbacks, and the Chargers credited him with a league-leading 10 touchdown passes from outside the pocket. He was not simply surviving pressure; he was still creating offense after structure broke down.
ESPN’s annual quarterback evaluation highlights the same point. Herbert appeared on nearly 80 percent of the ballots from league decision-makers and evaluators, landing seventh at his position. That survey asks a narrower question than the NFL Top 100, which compares every position. Still, a quarterback viewed as top seven by executives, coaches and scouts has a reasonable argument to sit higher than 39th overall.
Why the player vote can still be defended
There is also a fair argument for the ranking. The Top 100 is a review of recent performance, not a projection of future talent. Herbert’s 13 interceptions were his most since 2021, and his 94.1 passer rating fell from 101.7 in 2024. His passing total also landed well below his career-best 5,014 yards from 2021. A player can be one of the league’s most gifted quarterbacks without having produced a top-20 overall season every year.
The distinction matters. Ranking Herbert 39th does not mean players see 38 quarterbacks ahead of him. It means they placed 38 players from every position ahead of him after the 2025 season. Edge rushers, receivers, offensive linemen and defensive backs all compete for the same spots, making the list fundamentally different from a quarterback-only hierarchy.
Justin Herbert throws from the pocket in the Chargers’ current blue No. 10 uniform against Washington at SoFi Stadium during Week 5 of 2025. Photo: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Why Mike McDaniel changes the 2026 argument
The ranking debate will be settled by what Herbert does next. Mike McDaniel is now coordinating the Chargers offense, and the league evaluators surveyed by ESPN specifically pointed to that partnership as a reason for optimism. McDaniel’s challenge is not to reinvent Herbert. It is to reduce the number of difficult downs, create easier completions and let Herbert’s arm strength and mobility become advantages instead of emergency tools.
Bleacher Report’s first-time MVP discussion ranked Herbert second among its candidates. That is attributed analysis, not a prediction from Football Nation. The logic is straightforward: if improved protection and a more efficient system turn some of those 263 pressures into manageable throws, Herbert’s production can rise without asking him to become a different player.
Football Nation’s 2026 preseason power rankings provide the broader team context. Individual quarterback reputation will only climb if Los Angeles converts talent into consistent wins. The earlier Chiefs–Chargers Week 1 breakdown shows how Herbert has already been measured against Patrick Mahomes, while the Vikings–Chargers primetime preview reflects the kind of national stage that shapes public perception.
Football Nation takeaway
No. 39 is defensible as a snapshot of Herbert’s 2025 season, but it feels low as a measure of his actual value to the Chargers. He produced Pro Bowl-level volume while absorbing extraordinary pressure, added a new rushing dimension and kept the offense functional through injuries. The ranking should not be treated as disrespect; six consecutive appearances prove sustained peer recognition.
The real question is whether 2026 finally closes the gap between Herbert’s talent and his place in the league-wide hierarchy. If McDaniel creates a cleaner offense and Herbert lowers the turnover total while preserving the explosive plays, the next debate will not be whether he belongs above No. 39. It will be whether he belongs in the top 20.
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