Justin Herbert‘s likely going to play through a high ankle sprain for a second straight week.
The Los Angeles Chargers quarterback is expected to start in a pivotal AFC West tilt against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, barring a pregame setback, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported, per sources. Herbert is officially active.
Herbert, who was injured during a Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers, shrugged off the injury and played in the Chargers’ Week 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He didn’t make it through to the end of the game, however, aggravating the injury and leaving him questionable to play in Week 4.
Now, the question will be how Herbert’s ankle holds up. In a losing cause against Pittsburgh, Herbert was noticeably immobile.
Limited at practice through the week, Herbert said Wednesday he was making progress with the injury and didn’t foresee sitting out to get extra rest with a Week 5 bye forthcoming. That is now likely to be the case.
The Chargers will be handicapped already by the losses of Derwin James to a suspension and Rashawn Slater and Joey Bosa to injuries. With the odds stacked against them, the Bolts are trending toward not erring cautiously with their franchise signal-caller.
The 26-year-old Herbert has played well so far in offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s run-heavy scheme, completing 67.2% of his passes through three games with 399 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
Herbert, who missed the Chargers’ Week 18 loss to the Chiefs last year when he was dealing with a finger injury, is 2-5 in his career against Kansas City, having lost his last four starts.
The Chargers (2-1), with their franchise QB leading the way, will kick off at 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday versus the Chiefs (3-0).
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