The doctor in this case is Mitch Herbert, 30, in the second year of his orthopedic surgery residency at UCLA<\/a>, giving him a front-row seat to his brother\u2019s rise to NFL stardom.<\/p>\n The spotlight is trained on Justin Herbert this season, the seventh of his pro career. He has a new offensive coordinator in former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel<\/a>, and a head coach in Jim Harbaugh<\/a> who sees Herbert\u2019s potential as boundless, once referring to the passer as \u201cthe best that ever was.\u201d<\/p>\n The brothers share a two-bedroom apartment on the Westside. Both keep dawn-to-dusk hours, so they make the most of the time they do have together. Justin is two years younger. They don\u2019t spend much time playing video games, but they love movies, everything from \u201cInception\u201d to \u201cStep Brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe try not to talk too much about football,\u201d said Mitch, a former Montana State receiver. \u201cHe has enough of that in his day to day.\u201d<\/p>\n Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert warms up before a preseason game against the Rams on Aug. 27.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Now all three Herbert brothers are in Los Angeles. Youngest brother Patrick<\/a>, 25, a tight end who spent last season on Jacksonville\u2019s practice squad, signed with the Chargers last week for the same role. Justin, engaged to singer Madison Beer, plans to move out and hand his room to Patrick.<\/p>\n Even so, Mitch said living with Justin is easy, thanks to his meticulous approach to nearly everything.<\/p>\n \u201cHis closet is color-coded and everything is in the right spot,\u201d said Mitch, whose girlfriend, Isabella, also lives with them. \u201cI\u2019ve tried to do it, but my closet isn\u2019t nearly as organized as his. If there\u2019s ever a dish in the sink, it\u2019s probably mine.\u201d<\/p>\n It still feels a little surreal, Mitch said, to see his younger brother\u2019s face on giant posters, or to look up into the SoFi Stadium<\/a> stands and see a sea of No. 10 Herbert jerseys.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember growing up, we were always huge Oregon Ducks fans. My grandpa played football at Oregon, and that was the dream,\u201d Mitch said. \u201cSo when Justin became a starting quarterback as a freshman and had some success, and then over the next couple years, coming back home to Oregon games and just seeing the number of jerseys in the stands, it took a long time to get used to.<\/p>\n \u201cNowadays it\u2019s on a whole other level. Going to SoFi and seeing the jerseys in the stands, the big billboard ads. I\u2019m more used to seeing it now, but it still doesn\u2019t feel real.\u201d<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t easy for Justin to be inconspicuous while walking around town, although he doesn\u2019t seem to crave the spotlight.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s able to put a hat on or pull his hoodie over his head and stay relatively anonymous,\u201d Mitch said. \u201cBut the 6-foot-6 thing kind of gives him away.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitch Herbert after earning his medical degree from Columbia University.<\/p>\n (Courtesy of Mitch Herbert)<\/p>\n Height runs in the family. Mitch is 6-4, and Patrick is 6-5.<\/p>\n Every so often there\u2019s a funny encounter. Mitch and Isabella have their own dog, a mini-goldendoodle named Benny. On a walk near their apartment, they crossed paths with another dog owner.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a puppy we met in our neighborhood and his name was Herbert,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Isabella heard that and pressed: \u201cWhy\u2019d you name him that?\u201d<\/p>\n The woman\u2019s answer was simple: \u201cMy boyfriend is a big Justin Herbert fan.\u201d<\/p>\n Isabella couldn\u2019t let that one just sit there.<\/p>\n \u201cMy girlfriend outs me and says, \u2018That\u2019s Justin\u2019s brother.\u2019 [The other woman] played it cool but said, \u2018My boyfriend\u2019s going to love this story.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Mitch had an indication at an early age that Justin had special athletic abilities. There was the walk-off home run in the Babe Ruth World Series when Justin was 12 and surrounded by teammates a year older. There was the time Justin qualified for track nationals in the softball throw \u2014 the kids were too young for shot put. But the moment it dawned on Mitch that his kid brother would \u201cplay on Sundays\u201d was when Justin threw for 489 yards as a true freshman in a 54-35 win over Arizona State.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the first time I thought, \u2018OK, he\u2019s the real deal,\u2019\u201d Mitch said.<\/p>\n Justin Herbert played much of last season with a broken left hand. Mitch, who sees those types of injuries on a regular basis, was in awe of his brother\u2019s pain threshold.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s much tougher than I am, I\u2019ll say that,\u201d Mitch said. \u201cHe\u2019ll do whatever it takes to put the team first and be out there to help the guys, and that\u2019s always who he\u2019s been.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a bizarre fluke that led to Justin Herbert\u2019s first NFL start. Minutes before the Chargers played defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City in a Week 2 game, Herbert got the nod over slated starter Tyrod Taylor.<\/p>\n Taylor was dealing with a rib injury, and a Chargers doctor attempted to give him a pain-killing injection before the game. The needle accidentally punctured Taylor\u2019s lung<\/a>, causing chest pain and difficulty breathing. He was transported to the hospital, and the rookie Herbert took over the starting job.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mitch Herbert was living in New York as a first-year student at Columbia medical school. He was in the library prepping for a biochemistry exam.<\/p>\n \u201cI got a Facebook message,\u201d he said, although he couldn\u2019t recall from whom. \u201cThen the texts started to flood in. Mom, Dad, other friends.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Chargers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788788202_431_.jpeg\")
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