LA Chargers things to watch for on ‘Hard Knocks’: The quarterback situation
With the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the LA Chargers selected quarterback Justin Hebert from the University of Oregon. However, the team currently has Tyrod Taylor under contract for one more season and with the team high on Taylor, it is more than likely that he is the starter in 2020.
This seems to be the pre-emptive plan heading into this season and if everything goes as planned, at least as we understand it today, then Justin Herbert will not play any meaningful snaps in 2020. He should get a full year, only coming in if the season is lost/a playoff spot is clinched late in the year, to learn the NFL way.
Of course, this is not set in stone and things change quickly in the NFL. It will be interesting to watch not only how quickly Herbert can learn the playbook and adjust to the NFL pace of play in practice, but if he actually has a shot to win the starting job.
Is this going to be a situation where Herbert knows no matter what that he will not get the starting job? Or will it be a situation where the team at least gives him a chance with the understanding that he would really have to outplay Taylor by a wide margin?
It will be fun to watch play out and heck, with the recent Colin Kaepernick speculation, we could get another fun quarterback subplot of the team working Kaepernick out and deciding whether or not to bring him in.