Phillip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers are no more after a decade and a half relationship. For now, former Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor is now the No. 1 quarterback on their roster.
But, it’s February. The NFL still has free agency in March. The Chargers have been connected to speculation surrounding Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, even.
Then there’s the 2020 NFL Draft in April, where the Bolts own the sixth-overall pick.
Despite that, Chargers general manager Tom Telesco made a radio appearance on AM570 LA Sports in Los Angeles on Tuesday and said he likes the guys he has already. Circling back: Tyrod Taylor.
Telesco when asked if their next starting QB could be on their roster already: “Certainly could be.”
Telesco continued, “We do like our internal options right now. Tyrod Taylor is a player that has won in this league and we think he has a style that fits what we can do.”
Along with Taylor, there’s Easton Stick, a fifth-round pick of the Chargers from last year’s draft out of North Dakota State. Telesco hedged his thoughts on Taylor and mentioned Stick too, but doubled down on Taylor.
“We have some high hopes for Easton Stick and Easton is still a young QB that has a little ways to go. We have a lot of confidence in Tyrod Taylor,” Telesco said.
While Telesco is the man pulling the string on the Chargers’ roster, there’s plenty to consider here. Mainly, the other parties involved.
Also during his interview, Telesco confirmed that team ownership and Los Angeles head coach Anthony Lynn, who worked with Taylor during their time together with the Bills, played a part in the decision to move on from Rivers. It’s known that Lynn and Taylor have a positive history together.
First, even NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said when Rivers was released this week that Lynn prefers a mobile quarterback like Taylor. In addition in 2017, RapSheet reported that after the Bills moved on from Rex Ryan, Buffalo’s owners, Kim and Terry Pegula, apologized to Lynn for making him bench Taylor in Week 17 of that season because of contractual reasons. They apologized because the Pegulas knew how much Lynn liked Taylor.
There’s also nothing short of a strong connection in words spoken between the coach and QB as well.
In March 2017, Lynn, recently hired by the Chargers, gave massive praise for Taylor, who was still on the Bills at that time.
“I think the sky’s the limit for Tyrod Taylor,” Lynn said. “I think he’s definitely a starting quarterback in this league. He won a few games with the Bills that we could not have won without him. Working with him 1-on-1, I understand his upside maybe a little better than others.”
Lynn and Taylor certainly became close in 2016 when Rex Ryan fired Greg Roman as offensive coordinator and promoted Lynn to that role. At the locker cleanout day following that season, Taylor said he would most certainly likely to continue playing for Lynn.
“I would love for that to happen but it’s still a prove it league,” Taylor said on continuing to play in Buffalo with Lynn at the time.
All things considered, we’ll just leave this reminder here: the Chargers with visit Buffalo during the 2020 season. While there are some skeptics based on the long offseason ahead, there’s a chance that Taylor leads the Bolts out of the tunnel that day.
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