Ex-NFL star blasts Justin Herbert as his interceptions outpace his games played

Ex-NFL cornerback Darius Butler didn’t hold back on Thursday.

Appearing on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” he called out Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert for a stat that’s hard to defend.

Herbert has thrown more interceptions in the 2026 season than he has played games.

Through seven games, Herbert has 10 interceptions — the most in the NFL.

He has thrown at least one pick in every game this year.

The Chargers are 0-7.

Butler focused on one specific play from the Chargers’ 24-9 loss to the Rams in Week 7.

With the score 24-16 in the third quarter, Herbert dropped back on first down.

He saw split safety coverage.

Butler explained what that should have told Herbert.

“You see split safety coverage, it's still a game,” Butler said on the show.

“It's an eight-point game in the third quarter, first down. You see split safety coverage, you automatically know it's a potential that the corners can come up and play these flats.”

Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie did exactly that.

McDuffie read Herbert’s eyes and body language.

“So McDuffie is just reading the quarterback,” Butler said.

“You see Herbert, he wants to throw this ball around his back foot. Not there. He never sees McDuffie.”

McDuffie intercepted the pass.

Butler suggested the problem might go deeper than one bad read.

He compared Herbert’s style to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s approach in a similar offensive system.

“We saw Tua do this when he was playing good football a million times,” Butler said.

“Get to that back foot, do a play action, and then hit a guy between the numbers and the hash marks. And that's what you want to be. That's kind of how this offense is built.”

Then Butler delivered the key point.

“I just don't think that's the type of quarterback Justin Herbert is.”

That mismatch — between Herbert’s natural playing style and the offensive system run by Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel — could explain the repeated mistakes.

Herbert’s numbers this season tell the story.

He has completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,398 yards.

He has thrown five touchdowns against 10 interceptions.

His passer rating ranks near the bottom of the league.

The Chargers have not won a single game.

After the loss to the Rams, Rams defensive back Quentin Lake took a public shot at Herbert.

Appearing on the “St. Brown Podcast,” Lake said Herbert was “throwing deli meat” and “seeing ghosts” against the Rams defense.

Lake intercepted Herbert once during the game.

He struggled to contain his laughter while describing Herbert’s performance.

When asked about Lake’s comments during a Wednesday press conference, Herbert said he hadn’t heard them.

“I haven’t looked into it, haven’t heard anything about it, so I can’t really make a comment about it,” Herbert told reporters.

“We’re really just focused on what’s going on in the building, playing football and doing what we can and doing our best to, you know, go put our best effort out on Sunday. And that’s all that really matters. Anything outside of that is out of our control.”

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh also defended his quarterback.

“As far as anybody’s opinion, I don’t see that,” Harbaugh said.

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Not what I see.”

Harbaugh said Herbert did his job “exceptionally well” in the pass game, aside from two throws he would want back.

Not everyone agrees with that assessment.