Philip Rivers on Justin Herbert: The Chargers 'Nailed That Pick'

Philip Rivers hopes Justin Herbert can play 16 seasons with the Chargers like himself.

Philip Rivers hasn't played a snap for the Chargers since the 2019 season, but he's still watching his former club fairly closely.

Rivers, who was recently inducted into the Reese's Senior Bowl Hall of Fame, delivered high praise for the Chargers' quarterback of the future when asked about Justin Herbert.

"They got that one right," Rivers said on the Crain & Company show.

With two years of starting experience under his belt, Herbert has thrown for 9,350 passing yards and 69 touchdowns – both of which are NFL records for a quarterback's first two seasons in the NFL.

"I pull like crazy for the Chargers and I pull for Justin Herbert in particular, just because I think it's awesome that I was able to be there for 16 years. Hopefully he can be there for another 16," Rivers said. "I always thought it's cool you look at the Packers, you can say, 'Who's been their quarterback the last 40 years? [Brett] Favre and [Aaron] Rodgers.' You don't want it to go the Browns' version, with 30 starters in the last 25 years. With Herbert, it was time for me to be done there, and then they nailed that pick."

Rivers said with the abundance of turnover the roster has seen since he last played for the Chargers, there aren't that many of his former teammates still on the team. But he did highlight a few players that he goes out of his way to root for in particular.

"I don't have as many former teammates that are still there but Keenan Allen is there, (Austin) Ekeler is there, Derwin James," Rivers said ... "It makes you want to pull for those guys."

The Chargers have the sixth-best odds to win the Super Bowl, per DraftKings Sportsbook. And Rivers agrees that his former team should be well into the thick of things come the postseason, saying "they're definitely going to have a shot" to win the Super Bowl this year.

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Nick Cothrel is the publisher of Charger Report. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel for more Chargers coverage.