Chargers News: Team is looking for durability — a smoke screen for Tua?

LA Chargers general manager Tom Telesco had a conference call with reporters on Friday and gave us some potential Chargers news regarding the 2020 NFL Draft.

According to the Orange County Register’s Gilbert Manzano, one of the key things that Telesco did reveal during the conference call is that durability is a very high ranking factor in how the team is evaluating draft prospects.

If only there was a highly-touted prospect that could be available with the sixth overall pick who has had his durability questioned as the one flaw in his game. Oh, there is.

Chargers news: Are the LA Chargers out on Tua Tagovailoa?

Without mentioning him by name, Tom Telesco essentially gave us some insight into how he potentially feels about Tua Tagovalioa and the sixth overall pick. Tua is a sensational quarterback and was the consensus first overall pick heading into the 2019 college football season.

However, a historic year from Joe Burrow and LSU and some injuries to Tua knocked him down the list. He is now the second-best quarterback and could fall to the sixth overall pick if the Miami Dolphins pass on him with the fifth pick.

Of course, Telesco could be doing what every GM tries to do during this time of year and make it appear as if the team is not interested in selecting Tua. Why would he do this? The most realistic way for the Chargers to draft Tua this year is to leapfrog the Miami Dolphins in the draft order.

Miami, who has more draft capital, can outbid the Chargers for the same selection if need be. If the Dolphins know their interested, or even the Lions know they are interested, then it significantly reduces the chances of outbidding the Chargers.

However, if the Chargers play it calm, cool and collective, they might be able to get a trade offer in at the last moment to swoop ahead of the Dolphins and get Tua. It truly is an art.

Telesco sent us down a farther logical wormhole, however, by later saying that he does not do smoke screens. But is that a smokescreen? Is Telesco just being outright honest? Who really knows at this point.

Not so fast. Telesco also said he doesn’t do smokescreens. But that could be another smokescreen ??‍♂️ https://t.co/X0EpBsO04C

— Gilbert Manzano (@GManzano24) April 17, 2020

The one thing that we do know is that durability has not seemingly been a huge factor in previous years. Last year’s first-round pick, Jerry Tillery, is the latest example of this. Tillery played the last eight games of his season at Notre Dame with a torn Labrum and was a non-factor in his rookie season.

This was released before the draft, so it was not unknown to the Chargers. Maybe Telesco learned from his past, or maybe, just maybe, he is throwing us all into a smokescreen-ception.

Many fans are hoping that Tua Tagovailoa is in the Chargers news in the future for other reasons. Hopefully, Telesco was just throwing us off the scent.