LA Chargers: How the quarterback carousel affects the Chargers
By Steven Haglund
With Cam Newton‘s release official, there are even more quarterbacks available on the market than before. So how does that landscape affect the LA Chargers? Let’s examine that below.
The quarterback position is experiencing unprecedented mobility this year. Philip Rivers signed with the Colts, Tom Brady with the Buccaneers, Teddy Bridgewater with the Panthers, Marcus Mariota signed with the Raiders and Nick Foles was traded to the Bears. Not to mention PJ Walker and Jordan Ta’amu were both Recently signed from the XFL.
Then on the opposite side of things are the quarterbacks who were let go by their respective teams: Cam Newton, Jameis Winston, and Joe Flacco. Aside from the obvious of Newton being a popular target for the LA Chargers, at least amongst their fans although as of writing this there has been no indication that the Chargers are in fact interested in Newton, this quarterback carousel has a direct impact on the long term quarterback market through the draft.
There are at least four quarterbacks that will be drafted in the first round this year: Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love. Then you have guys like Jalen Hurts, Jake Fromm, Jacob Eason, and others that will be looking to get drafted in the second or third rounds. But which teams will draft them?
On the following slides, I will file every team into four categories based on how likely they are to draft a quarterback this year.