Justin Herbert is a quarterback the Los Angeles Chargers believe can lead them to a Super Bowl.

As he enters his fourth NFL season, the former Oregon Ducks star is eligible for a contract extension. He’s on a bargain bin contract now — slated to earn $4.23 million in 2023 — but in line for a massive raise on his next deal. According to multiple reports, Herbert is expected to receive a contract that will pay him north of $50 million annually, a deal that would be one of the largest in the league. Aaron Rodgers is currently the only quarterback who is earning more than $50 million per season.

Chargers head coach Brandon Staley confirmed earlier this week that club and quarterback have officially opened extension negotiations. “I’m confident that Justin Herbert is going to be our quarterback for a long time and that we’ll make sure that we get a deal done,” he said.

And the team’s general manager, Tom Telesco, doubled down on that during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“There’s a lot that will go into it, obviously, with these type of contracts and the numbers that it’s going to be,” Telesco said. “But it’s just a good problem to have. To know you have a franchise quarterback that’s now moving into a veteran franchise quarterback, there are a lot of good things that come with that. Now, the flip side is, we’ll build the team a little bit differently. We’ll transition to that in the next couple of years.

“I’m not losing a lot of sleep over it. Yeah, I know the numbers are going to be big. He’s earned it, but we think we can win a Super Bowl with him. That’s a good problem to have. We’ll get it done at some point, and then we’ll go from there.”

Herbert has enjoyed remarkable success during his first three NFL seasons. The sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Herbert burst onto the scene in the league, setting single-season rookie records with 396 completions and 31 touchdowns while falling just 38 yards shy of taking Andrew Luck’s rookie record for passing yardage. (Herbert finished with 4,336.)

He made the Pro Bowl the following year after throwing for 5,014 yards and 38 touchdowns. In doing so, he became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 30 or more touchdowns in each of the first two seasons and set a record for passing yardage through a player’s first two seasons.

In Year 3, Herbert led Los Angeles to a wild-card berth at 10-7, the club’s first postseason trip since 2018 and just its second year with double-digit wins since 2010.