Who Should I Start? Justin Herbert or Brock Purdy

Monday, January 5, 9:51 PM

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert sat out of the regular-season finale versus the Denver Broncos. It was a smart idea for the Chargers to sit Herbert and give him another week to rest and recover, as he's been playing through a surgically repaired left (non-throwing) hand for the last couple of weeks. The 27-year-old will now head into a tough matchup against a New England Patriots defense that is in the top 10 in terms of passing yards allowed to QBs this season. Herbert hasn't exactly been elite during the second half of the season behind a thin and beat-up offensive line. He has only thrown for multiple scores once over his last four games. Herbert is still a quality QB, but he is looking more like a high-end QB2 for fantasy managers going into the playoffs.

Wednesday, January 7, 5:11 PM

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was shut down in the regular-season finale by the Seattle Seahawks, throwing for a season-low 127 yards with one interception and his only game this season without a touchdown. Purdy suffered a stinger on the final play of the game, but he is not expected to miss any practice time and will be good to go for Sunday's Wild-Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The 26-year-old signal-caller had another strong season overall despite playing in only nine games due to an early-season turf-toe injury. He'll be in line for another challenging matchup against a stout Eagles defensive unit that ranks sixth in both dropback-success rate (40.7%) and dropback EPA (-0.109) over the final five weeks of the season.