With the Nov. 10 trade deadline a week away, analyst Max Kellerman is making the case that the Minnesota Vikings, now 6-1, need to trade for a quarterback, and he identified Justin Herbert of the winless Los Angeles Chargers as the perfect target.

His pitch follows a rough Sunday for both teams, as Minnesota suffered its first loss of the season, 19-15 to the Detroit Lions, while the Chargers fell to 0-7 with a 24-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Max Kellerman Explains Why Justin Herbert Would Fit With the Minnesota Vikings

Kellerman laid out his argument on “Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul,” and he opened with his concerns about the Vikings.

“The Vikings must make a move before the deadline for a quarterback, because this is a Super Bowl team if they have a quarterback,” Kellerman argued.

Kyler Murray has completed 64.9% of his passes through Week 8 for 1,022 yards, 27th in the NFL, with 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He currently ranks No. 25 in PFN’s QB Impact Score with a 69.8 grade.

From there, Kellerman urged Minnesota to pursue Herbert.

“Justin Herbert, early in his career, looked like a great quarterback. Not just a franchise quarterback, a future Hall of Famer,” he said. “This is my evaluation of Justin Herbert now. He’s a good quarterback. He’s even a franchise quarterback. You can give him a four-year deal.”

Kellerman believes that the winless Chargers could be open to dealing Herbert.

“Right now, the Chargers are in a position to get a great return on a good player,” he explained. “They’re not going anywhere this year. I don’t think Justin Herbert is great, but I think he’s good. The Chargers will charge in draft picks for Justin Herbert as though he’s a great quarterback.

“So if you’re the Chargers, you can sell actually high. People think you don’t want to sell Justin Herbert low. Right now, his stock is low. No, he’s still perceived as potentially great because he’s above average, but not that much.”

And that, Kellerman argued, is where Minnesota comes in.

“But that’s all the Vikings need. If the Vikings had an above-average quarterback, they could win the Super Bowl right now,” he said.

It’s worth noting that Herbert’s numbers are dreadful this season. Through Week 8, Herbert has completed 131 of 212 passes for 1,398 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, and his 69.3 passer rating ranks 30th of 31 qualified quarterbacks, while Murray’s 86.6 passer rating ranks 20th of 31. Herbert ranks dead last (35th out of 35 eligible QBs) in PFN’s QB Impact Score with a 61.0 grade.

However, Herbert finished 17th in QBi last year, 14th in 2024, and as high as eighth in 2021, so this is an unprecedented slump for Herbert and the upside is there.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, ESPN’s Adam Schefter insists that Herbert isn’t going anywhere.

A few weeks ago, Schefter said that a rival executive floated a trade idea in which Los Angeles would receive three first-round picks for Herbert, so he asked a Chargers source about it. However, the Chargers source “basically cut me off mid-sentence” before adding, “Let me be very clear about this. We have never even discussed that idea. The sentence ‘should we trade Justin Herbert’ has never once been uttered in our organization, nor will it be.”

It remains to be seen whether the Chargers’ stance will change before the 2026 NFL trade deadline on Nov. 10.