The moment it was announced that Philip Rivers and the LA Chargers would be parting ways it was assumed that the team would take a quarterback with the first overall pick. This may not be the case.
For the first time in 15 years, the LA Chargers are going to have someone not named Philip Rivers taking snaps under center, which is going to be an extremely weird thing for Charger fans to get used to.
Right away the most likely situation appeared to be that the team would select a quarterback with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. It was only fitting that the team would replace a fourth overall pick in Rivers with the sixth overall pick.
However, there were some things that we had to wait for first before knowing if that would be the case. With the likes of Tom Brady (and still Cam Newton), it was unclear whether or not the team would use the draft or bring in a veteran quarterback.
After Tom Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that the Chargers were moving forward with Tyrod Taylor, seemingly eliminating the chances of Newton or even Jameis Winston.
With Taylor slated to be the starter, many fans assumed that the team would select a quarterback prospect to sit for a season and learn from Taylor before taking over the reins, similar to Taylor’s role with the Cleveland Browns in 2018.
That surely indicates that the team will select a quarterback in the first round, right? Well, not necessarily. Here is our case for the LA Chargers foregoing a quarterback in the first round and using that pick elsewhere.