Justin Herbert injury update: Adam Schefter lays out likelihood Chargers QB plays vs. Eagles after surgery

The Los Angeles Chargers need to kick their season into gear as the calendar has now turned to December. There’s a problem, though. Star quarterback Justin Herbert is injured.

On Monday, Herbert needed to have surgery on his left hand to repair a fracture. Luckily, it’s his non-throwing hand, and the team announced that he was day-to-day at the time. Despite that, Herbert missed practice on Wednesday, leading to an interesting injury update from ESPN’s Adam Schefter when he appeared on Get Up this Thursday.

“Justin Herbert, not practicing yesterday,” Schefter said. “Went to the walkthrough. Had surgery on that fractured left hand on Monday. Now, the Chargers continue to insist that he’s doing everything he can to be out there and they’re preparing as if Herbert will play on Monday night against the Eagles, but I think there are people around the league who are a little bit skeptical of that, wondering whether he could have surgery on Monday and play a week later, and how much of a risk that might be.”

In essence, Herbert is still day-to-day and hoping to get back on time for the Chargers’ Monday Night game. That extra day won’t hurt the quarterback at all in the process, of course. Still, it’s a point of debate whether or not he’ll be ready to take on the Eagles.

“Obviously, the Chargers will handle the situation the right way,” Schefter said. “But there are some conflicting schools of thought, and we’ll see what’s real. If he can’t play, Trey Lance leads the Chargers on Monday Night.”

Herbert was initially injured in the first quarter of Los Angeles’ 31-14 win over the Raiders on November 30th. It happened when Raiders safety Jeremy Chinn hit Herbert while he was scrambling. On the play, Chinn’s helmet hit Herbert’s hand. After trying to play through it, Herbert would exit for nine plays before returning to the game. The hope, according to Herbert, was that he wouldn’t miss any time at all.

“I’m treating it as if I’m playing on Monday,” Herbert said after the game. “I think they were very hopeful for that. I think that’s something that we’ll see [Monday] and we’ll get a feel for. I think they were very hopeful, so that’s always a good thing.”

In 12 games this season, Justin Herbert is completing 66.9 percent of his passes for 2,842 yards and 21 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. He also has 353 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.

This comes at a time when Los Angeles is second in the AFC West, trailing the Denver Broncos by two games. That also puts them in the midst of what is a currently hotly contested Wild Card race. This also comes going into a game against an Eagles team in need of a win.