Justin Herbert's $29.5M 5th-Year Option Exercised by Chargers amid Contract Talks

The Los Angeles Chargers have picked up the $29.5 million fifth-year option on quarterback Justin Herbert's rookie contract, per the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

Herbert has played three seasons for the Bolts, who selected the former Oregon star with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 draft.

He completed 68.2 percent of his passes for 4,739 passing yards (6.8 yards per attempt), 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2022. Herbert finished the regular season 12th out of 33 qualifiers in quarterback rating (93.2) and 11th in ESPN's QBR (58.4).

Herbert has notable accomplishments in all three of his NFL seasons. He earned the Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2020. Herbert then garnered Pro Bowl honors in 2021 after tossing a career-high 38 touchdowns.

In 2022, Herbert led the Chargers to their first double-digit-win season and playoff appearance since 2018.

L.A. clearly has its long-term solution at quarterback, and keeping him around for the foreseeable future is an obvious move to eventually make as the Bolts seek their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994, when the franchise was in San Diego.

So an extension is likely coming, though don't expect to hear much leaked publicly regarding those talks. Head coach Brandon Staley told reporters earlier in April that the Chargers are "going to keep those negotiations private."

The move comes at a time when a host of young and successful quarterbacks are staking their claim on the NFL's future, including the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen, the Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Hurts, the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson, the Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence and the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow. Both Hurts (five years, $255 million) and Jackson (five years, $260 million) recently reset the market with lucrative extensions.

Herbert finds himself in that group of signal-callers who will battle for league supremacy and is well deserving of a lucrative deal. The Chargers have a Super Bowl championship window as long as he's around.