In 2020, Justin Herbert was the Chargers’ first-round rookie quarterback, while Melvin Ingram was a three-time Pro Bowler in his ninth and final season with the franchise. And it didn’t take long for Ingram to teach Herbert a valuable lesson on the practice field.
Herbert said in a PFT Live interview that the biggest adjustment for him as a rookie was the speed of the game, and he had never faced someone like Ingram, who was big and strong enough to play on the defensive line, while also fast and athletic enough to make leaping interceptions, as he did to Herbert.
“I think the speed of the game is so incredibly fast,” Herbert said of the biggest adjustment from college. “As soon as I got down to Southern California, practicing with those guys, I threw a screen pass to Keenan [Allen], but Melvin Ingram reached up with one hand and picked it off like it was nothing, like he just did it regularly.”
Herbert said practicing against Ingram (who in 2021 played against Herbert with the Chiefs) was an eye-opener about how every single player on the field in the NFL was a great player in college.
“Ever since then I realized that every guy on the team was the guy where he was,” Herbert said.
Herbert is now the guy for the Chargers, but every NFL player has a moment when it hits him that it’s going to be a lot harder at the professional level.