Tom Telesco has garnered a lot of criticism from fans in the past — some of it fair and some of it not being fair. One of the fairest criticisms of the Chargers general manager is hit draft history outside of the first round. The Bolts have nailed quite a few first-round picks but have failed to build quality behind that, for the most part.
Charger fans have to be optimistic this year in the draft after such a stellar offseason as well as a much better draft in 2020 with Brandon Staley helping make the decisions. The 2021 draft very well could go down as Telesco's most well-rounded when it is all said and done and the hope is that 2022 is even better.
Will every pick be a hit? No. Those are unfair expectations (even though fans tout every single pick every single year knowing that a seventh-round pick probably won't be a star). Chargers fans just have to hope that the team does not whiff on some key picks or potentially make a pointless selection.
When we look back at Telecso's draft history with the Chargers, there is one pick that stands out about the rest as the most pointless. This pick is not necessarily the worst pick that Telesco has ever made, but when we look back at it, we can't help but question the purpose of the selection at all.
Easton Stick is the most pointless selection Tom Telesco has ever made as Chargers GM.
The LA Chargers selected Easton Stick in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft and the selection did not make a ton of sense then and it still does not make sense now. While it would be the last year of Philip Rivers' tenure with the Bolts in 2019, he was coming off of a great season in 2018 and the Chargers had a true NFL backup behind him in Tyrod Taylor.
It would be one thing if the Chargers were drafting a mid-round quarterback with the intention of him being Rivers' successor. That was never the case with Stick. He lived on the practice squad in his rookie season and then as soon as Rivers left, quarterback became the no. 1 need on the team. He was almost never considered.
Some may argue that the team drafted Stick to be a long-term backup but that really does not make any sense. The Bolts had Taylor For another two years and then when 2021 swung around, the team signed Chase Daniel to be a veteran backup for Justin Herbert.
You could say that the Chargers didn't know they would be in the market for someone like Daniel but they should've known. The team knew that quarterback was a round one need in 2020 and that they would need a veteran once Taylor left after the 2020 season. That was not that difficult to project.
Now for the fourth time in his four-year NFL career, Stick enters the 2022 season as the third-string quarterback on the LA Chargers depth chart. Last year, the Bolts carried three quarterbacks on the active roster, which is unconventional. This year, with COVID-19 not really being a factor, the need for three QBs on the active roster just in case is non-existent.
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It would not be surprising if Stick's career with the Chargers was over before the 2022 season began. If that was the case, all the Bolts got out of him was two snaps and some reps at safety on the practice squad.