LA Chargers: How the quarterback carousel affects the Chargers

CARSON, CA - NOVEMBER 03: Tyrod Taylor #5 of the Los Angeles Chargers warms up before playing the Green Bay Packers at Dignity Health Sports Park on November 3, 2019 in Carson, California. Chargers won 26-11. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
CARSON, CA - NOVEMBER 03: Tyrod Taylor #5 of the Los Angeles Chargers warms up before playing the Green Bay Packers at Dignity Health Sports Park on November 3, 2019 in Carson, California. Chargers won 26-11. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next
(Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) – LA Chargers
(Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) – LA Chargers /

The who knows category

Otherwise known as the wild card category. The first team here is the Las Vegas Raiders. As mentioned on a previous slide they currently have Derek Carr, Mariota, Deshone Kizer and Nathan Peterman currently on the roster. Yet they have been linked to almost every quarterback prospect outside of Burrow, Tagovailoa and Herbert. Would Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock really carry five quarterbacks on their roster? Who knows but it sure seems like something they would do.

The Washington Redskins put out some feelers that they were potentially interested in drafting Tagovailoa with the number two overall pick, but then they went and traded a fifth-round pick for Kyle Allen.

I’m a believer in Dwayne Haskins so if I were running that team I wouldn’t be interested in drafting a quarterback but as long as Dan Snyder is running that team, you never really know what they’re going to do.

Moving to the other team in Los Angeles, the Rams are in a period of transition. They went all-in on a two-year window and yes they went to the Super Bowl but now they are stuck in a cap space dead zone.

They have almost no flexibility financially and somehow need to recoup some draft picks. They don’t necessarily need to draft a quarterback since they have Jared Goff but they don’t have a capable backup on the roster and don’t really have the cap space to sign a veteran backup at this point. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean McVay took a swing on his next protege in this year’s draft.

The Tennessee Titans fit in that same category as the Rams. They just threw a ton of money at Ryan Tannehill after he led them to the playoffs. They don’t have a capable backup on the roster since Mariota left elsewhere, but they don’t really have a ton of cap space either. So drafting a late-round quarterback makes sense, but they certainly seem all in on Tannehill.

The Dallas Cowboys are another team that belong here. As of writing this, Dak Prescott is slated to play on the franchise tag, but current reports suggest the two parties have resumed talks for a long term deal.

If they are unable to come to terms on that deal before the draft, then they absolutely should take a swing on a quarterback in the middle of the draft. You absolutely cannot go into next season with your quarterback on the franchise tag and not have any backup plan in place.

The Jacksonville Jaguars seem to be set with Gardner Minshew and Joshua Dobbs on the roster but they have a ton of draft capital after trading away all their good defensive players. Dobbs hasn’t shown much so perhaps they’d be willing to invest in some competition to be their backup quarterback.

Finally, the New York Jets don’t really have a capable backup for Sam Darnold either and they really should give him a veteran guy to learn from. That being said, the Jets are one of the worst run organizations in the league so who knows what they are thinking about these days.