Matt Ryan has a new angle to watch in Justin Herbert’s game. The Los Angeles Chargers said Herbert now lines up with his left foot forward in shotgun formations, a small change built to trim time and strain ahead of the 2026 season.
Mike McDaniel put the logic plainly: "I'm trying to find the margins." Herbert, a right-handed quarterback, can save about half a second when he gets the snap and fires quickly from the new stance, and that matters after a 2025 season in which he was sacked 54 times and faced a league-high 263 pressures.
Herbert’s left foot moves first
The change is simple on paper. Herbert had used his right foot forward in shotgun looks; now his left foot is the lead foot. For a quarterback who works from shotgun often, the adjustment shortens the first movement after the snap and changes how fast he can get into a throwing motion.
That is the point of the tweak. The Chargers are not asking Herbert to reinvent his passing game. They are asking him to get to the throw a little faster, with less extra movement, and to do it from a stance that fits the season ahead.
Mike McDaniel chases margins
McDaniel’s line about finding the margins fits the rest of the plan. The Chargers offense is being shaped around efficiency and simplicity, with Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt expected back on the line and skill players such as Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston and Omarion Hampton in the mix.
That structure gives the stance change a practical target. If the ball comes out quicker, Herbert should face less traffic in the pocket and spend fewer snaps exposed to the kind of hits that piled up in 2025.
Herbert’s 2025 load
Herbert’s season explains why the adjustment landed now. He played the final month of 2025 with a fractured left hand, had a scaled back throwing program this offseason and still carried the burden of 54 sacks plus 263 pressures, the second-highest total in the league. The contradiction is hard to miss: a quarterback regarded as elite, yet one who spent too much of last year under siege.
The new footwork does not erase that history. It does point to the Chargers’ next step, which is to give Herbert cleaner answers before the 2026 season opens and see whether a half second here and there turns into fewer hits, faster throws and a steadier offense built around him.
