From his first day on the job, Jim Harbaugh was enamored with Justin Herbert’s leadership abilities. The fifth-year quarterback “leads from the front,” Harbaugh praised.
That is, unless Herbert is emerging from a broken elevator.
When about a dozen members of the Chargers’ traveling party were stuck in an elevator in Dallas last month during the preseason, Herbert was the last to scale the ladder to safety, letting everyone else crawl through a ceiling panel before him after they were trapped for two hours.
The gesture only solidified Harbaugh’s belief in the star quarterback who the Chargers hope to follow to success.
“Any and every way, he is probably the best leader I’ve ever been around,” Harbaugh said Wednesday.
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Hoping to rebound after the Charger’s disappointing 5-12 season, Herbert called his eventful preseason that included a foot injury that kept him out for two weeks and the comical-only-in-retrospect elevator incident, “a fun test.”
“Definitely learned a lot [going] through some things you don’t want to have to experience during the preseason,” Herbert said with a smile.
Herbert is healthy after the team announced the 26-year-old was diagnosed with a plantar fascia injury in his right foot on July 31. He said Wednesday during his first news conference since the first week of training camp that the injury developed gradually over time, but was not serious enough to have kept him out of games had it been during the season.
Although he could have “pushed through” to play games, Herbert instead worked with the training staff to manage the soreness with a protective boot with the hope it wouldn’t flare up again.
“When he came back, it’s like he didn’t miss a beat,” receiver Derius Davis said. “He came back throwing them dimes.”
Without longtime Chargers stalwart receivers Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, Herbert is working with new skill players at almost every position.
The Chargers added former Baltimore Ravens running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards and free agent receiver DJ Chark Jr., who missed practice with a hip injury Wednesday. The seventh-year player out of Louisiana State is the most productive receiver stat-wise in the Chargers’ unproven group.
Despite the injury, Herbert stayed engaged with his teammates during meetings and from the sideline. Even throwing during informal workouts, he could watch his teammates run and make mental notes about their movement patterns to make up for the practice time he missed.
“Those are the reps that you wish to get back,” Herbert said. “You don’t want to lose those, especially during the preseason, where if you’re not playing in the game, practice is everything to you.
“To miss that, it was definitely tough, but … we did a great job of not missing too much. Where if I wasn’t out at practice, I was watching it, we were going through the film, meeting, talking about it.”
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After testing different shoes and cleats during his gradual return to practice, Herbert doesn’t expect the injury to hamper him through the season, but he will continue to work with trainers on treatment and management.
His preseasaon absence reinforced just how valuable the $52.5-million man is to the team as backup quarterback Easton Stick struggled so much that general manager Joe Hortiz traded for veteran Taylor Heinicke to bolster the quarterback depth. Last month, Harbaugh compared Herbert’s return to hearing angels sing.
After a whole offseason of watching the former offensive rookie of the year, the coach said he felt as if he was running out of the right adjectives to appropriately describe Herbert. On Wednesday, he offered a new analogy instead.
“He’s like a human computer chip for a brain,” Harbaugh said. “The way he thinks, the way he can go through information, absorb it, retain it, disseminate it, it’s really impressive.”
Herbert, who majored in general science at Oregon, won the 2019 William V. Campbell Award, which is known as the “academic Heisman.” The award honors excellence in academics, athletics and leadership.
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Herbert has continued to flex his leadership skills with the Chargers, calmly navigating the broken elevator in the team hotel. He was one of just two people who had cell service and called for help. Emergency responders on the phone assured the group it would be 15 or 20 minutes. It stretched for more than two hours.
While the temperature rose in the cramped elevator and it felt as if oxygen was growing thin, players used the opportunity as a bonding opportunity. Packed shoulder-to-shoulder, everyone stood on their feet for hours, telling jokes and laughing to keep from panicking during the strange situation.
“We just got a lot of cool cucumbers,” said offensive lineman Foster Sarell, a backup tackle. “No one really flinches too much. … I feel like you expect that from an athlete, just because we’re trained in adversity a lot.”
Herbert, Sarell and offensive linemen Zion Johnson were the last ones to emerge from the elevator. They were holding the bottom of the ladder to keep it from swaying as people climbed to safety. While in the elevator shaft, Sarell made sure to snap a picture to commemorate the unique experience.
The rescue mission has not deterred players from riding elevators again, Sarell said, but if he’s in one with a “fellow survivor” they shoot each other a knowing look. At the team facility, Herbert said he takes the stairs every chance he gets.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.