Tag: Easton Stick

Chargers considered signing QB Cam Newton

The Los Angeles Chargers did do their homework on the former MVP quarterback.

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After the Chargers and Philip Rivers split ways, the search for a quarterback began in free agency.

Los Angeles was in the sweepstakes for Tom Brady, but they came up short after he chose to sign with the Buccaneers. Another free agent option was Cam Newton, who was released by the Panthers in March.

Newton was seen as an ideal target for L.A. because his presence would help sell tickets in their new season. However, they passed up on the opportunity to sign the former MVP.

Were the Chargers actually interested in signing Newton? Coach Anthony Lynn said that the team did consider it.

“Absolutely, Cam is a tremendous quarterback,” Lynn said on a recent CBS Sports interview. “He’s been MVP of this league, he’s led his team to the Super Bowl and he’s healthy now from what I hear. Cam is going to be on somebody’s roster and he’s going to help somebody win a few games, but yeah, we did take a look at that, sure.”

Los Angeles ended up drafting former Oregon product Justin Herbert with the No. 6 overall selection in this year’s draft with the hopes of him being the long-term solution at the position.

Prior to Herbert being selected, Lynn was already confident with the quarterbacks that were already on the roster.

“I feel really good about the quarterback room that I have,” Lynn said. “With Tyrod Taylor, Easton Stick — those are guys that a lot of people don’t talk about, but he was a Division I AA — he won like three national championships. He’s a hell of a leader, hell of a professional and I think he has a bright future in this league one day.”

While the Chargers quarterback room is set, Newton remains a free agent. Lynn believes that he will be signed in 2020 by a team.

Chargers ‘looked at’ Cam Newton but don’t plan to sign him

Coach Anthony Lynn says his team looked at Newton but doesn’t plan on signing him.

If you’re confused as to why Cam Newton has not signed with another team yet you’re not alone.

One of the best fits for Newton in free agency is the Chargers, who are in need of a new starting quarterback after moving on from Philip Rivers, now with the Colts. Coach Anthony Lynn says his team looked at Newton but doesn’t plan on signing him.

Here’s what he told Zach Gelb at CBS Sports.

It’s nice that Lynn believes in the quarterbacks who are already on his roster. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t upgrade, though.

Tyrod Taylor is an excellent backup but will likely be on the lower end of league-wide quarterback rankings if he starts the entire season. Justin Herbert is the heir apparent for the job. However, he’s a very raw prospect and will probably need at least a year before he’s ready to start. Easton Stick is pretty much in the same boat after a redshirt rookie season.

Among the teams that make sense for Newton, the Chargers have the best chance to win anything significant.

However, Newton’s best path might be waiting for the right opportunity to open up. An injury to any starter with the exceptions of Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater might give him the chance to step in and not have to settle for a backup QB role.

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Who will start at QB for the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1?

Projecting the Week 1 starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Los Angeles Chargers have a veteran quarterback on their roster in Tyrod Taylor, and they drafted their quarterback of the future in Justin Herbert with the sixth overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. They will enter the 2020 season with someone other than Philip Rivers as their starting quarterback for the first time since 2005.

Below, we focus on which quarterback will be the Chargers’ Week 1 starter tied around NFL futures betting odds from BetMGM sportsbook.

Los Angeles Chargers: QB depth chart

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Odds last updated Tuesday, April 28 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

The Chargers have three quarterbacks on their roster. Here are their odds of starting in Week 1.

  • Tyrod Taylor -278
  • Justin Herbert +220
  • Easton Stick +4000

Free-agent QB Cam Newton is also listed as a possibility at +2200.

Place your legal sports wagers online at BetMGM, or play in their online casino. Bet now!

Los Angeles Chargers’ Week 1 starter: Best bets

Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn has been public in his support of Taylor. He was with the team last season and knows the offense; however, the Chargers did use the No. 6 pick in the draft to select Herbert, and he is expected to be their quarterback of the future.

With the league expected to have a shortened offseason with much fewer reps on the field, it’s becoming more likely Herbert will be eased into a starting role as the season progresses. While Kyler Murray was given the starting job from Day 1 for the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, other young quarterbacks have eased into their jobs.

Daniel Jones and Dwayne Haskins started on the bench in 2019 for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, respectively. Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield, Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, then-Cardinals QB Josh Rosen and Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen took over later in the 2018 season.

While there isn’t much value in the bet, betting TAYLOR (-278) will take the first snap of the season for the Chargers is the best play. Don’t waste time with Stick or Newton. With both Herbert and Taylor, the Chargers won’t even consider a free-agent addition.

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Where does Chargers QB Easton Stick stand?

All the talk has been on Tyrod Taylor. But where does Easton Stick stand with the Los Angeles Chargers?

On Tuesday, general manager Tom Telesco said that he likes the Chargers’ internal options when discussing the quarterback situation.

With Philip Rivers no longer with the team, Tyrod Taylor and Easton Stick are the only two quarterbacks on the roster.

Taylor, the 30-year old who signed with L.A. on a two-year deal last offseason, is the favorite to be the starter in 2020 at the moment. But where does that leave Stick?

The Chargers selected Stick in the fifth-round of the 2019 NFL Draft. The former North Dakota State product beat out Cardale Jones for the final quarterback spot last preseason.

During the regular season, Stick was never active on game days, but he still benefited learning from the two veterans during practices. Now with Rivers gone, he moves up on the depth chart, leaving many wondering if he will have the opportunity to start.

In the interview with Telesco, he said that the team has high hopes for Stick, but he is still a young quarterback with a ways to go. Despite having a draft pick spent on him, it doesn’t mean that he’s line to start within the next couple of year, or at all in his professional career.

Instead, the Chargers could have taken a flyer on him with the hopes of becoming a long-term backup, especially considering Taylor won’t be with the team much longer (if they choose to draft a rookie in the early rounds).

Or, Los Angeles’ intentions could be to develop Stick enough to the point where he does have upside as a starter, which could garner trade consideration from another team.

The bottom line is that while he has the resume as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in the FCS and his athleticism and intangibles are second-to-none, his average arm strength and passing instincts limits him from being a starting quarterback in the NFL at the moment.

Poll: How should Chargers address quarterback position?

Should the Los Angeles Chargers sign a free agent quarterback, make a deal for one, or draft a rookie?

For the first time in 14 years, the Chargers will have a different guy starting at quarterback moving forward after the franchise announced that Philip Rivers will no longer be with the team.

Even though it’s hard to visualize another person other than No. 17 under center, the show must go on.

Los Angeles currently has Tyrod Taylor and Easton Stick on the roster, with Taylor likely penciled in as the starter at the moment. But it’s hard to believe that they will roll into the new season with just those two.

L.A. will have three different options to address the position this offseason.

  1. Free agency
  2. Trade
  3. NFL Draft

If the team wishes to find a signal-caller via free agency, there are eight soon-to-be free agents that could draw their attention, with Tom Brady and Dak Prescott leading the pack.

Acquiring a quarterback through a trade hasn’t been talked about as much, but should the Chargers explore this outlet, a player like Cam Newton could be enticing to the team.

Los Angeles Chargers could surpass both of these, and draft a quarterback with their first-round pick for the first time since 2004. Some of the top options include Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Oregon’s Justin Herbert or Utah State’s Jordan Love.

I believe that the route the Bolts should address the position by drafting one early on. They will likely have one or two of the tree top options available when they’re on the clock, all of whom have potential to be franchise quarterbacks.

Also, rookie quarterback contracts are a cap space-saving building block – which would benefit the Chargers.

With that being said, what do you believe the Bolts should do this offseason to replace Rivers?

Vote in the poll below.

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Expert panel says Chargers have most difficult future QB situation in NFL

The Chargers will have their toughest decision to make when the 2019 season comes to an end.

The Chargers will have their toughest decision to make when the 2019 season comes to an end. The team will have to decide whether or not they will move forward with their quarterback of the past 16 seasons.

Our good friends at Touchdown Wire spoke with a panel of experts (one former head coach, two former general managers and one current general manager) and asked what they thought of the future quarterback situation for each team in the league.

Here is what they thought about the situation in Los Angeles:

This is perhaps the league’s most difficult quarterback situation to assess at this moment. Philip Rivers, 37, is in the last year of his contract. Backup Tyrod Taylor is signed through 2020, but he’s not a long-term answer as the starter. The Chargers likely will try to re-sign Rivers. But it’s time to find his heir apparent. Easton Stick, a fifth-round choice this year out of North Dakota State, is viewed as nothing more than a backup. The Chargers may use an early-round pick on a quarterback with the potential to be a starter. “Keep Rivers if he wants to keep playing. But it’s time to draft a quarterback for the future,” a panelist said. “They’re not going to have a top pick, but they still should be high enough to get a good quarterback.”

Rivers, who will turn 38 in December, is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Rivers is coming off a 2018 season, where he threw for 32 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions. But it’s been the exact opposite in 2019.

Rivers has thrown 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, which ranks as the second-most in the league. The reason for his poor play has been resulted from an inconsistent offensive line, as well as his own signs of regression, including mental miscues and lack of velocity on his passes.

It’s unfortunate to see a decline in play from a player that has carried the team for such a long time, and it has been done with a below average offensive line for the majority of his professional career.

The Chargers have not addressed the quarterback position in the first four rounds of the draft since Rivers became the full-time starter since 2006.

Los Angeles has Tyrod Taylor and rookie Easton Stick behind Rivers, but there isn’t anything that suggests one of those guys will be the long-term solution, which means that the team could heavily consider one in the 2020 NFL draft.

The way we see it, there are one of three things that will happen.

The Chargers will re-sign Rivers to a short, but large contract and address the offensive line heavily this offseason. They re-sign Rivers and still draft his successor early on. Or, the team lets Rivers walk, they draft a quarterback in the early rounds and let Taylor be the bridge in 2020.

The bottom line is that Los Angeles will have a big decision to make when this offseason rolls around and it will be one of the heftier headlines when that time comes.

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Chargers’ Anthony Lynn not considering benching QB Philip Rivers

Don’t expect to see Tyrod Taylor or rookie Easton Stick out on the field anytime soon.

While quarterback Philip Rivers is coming off two consecutive games that were undoubtably the worst of the past three seasons, the question has come up if the the Chargers are going to bench him.

Coach Anthony Lynn has no intentions to bench the veteran signal-caller anytime soon on Tuesday.

“I’m not going to entertain that right now. I’m going to evaluate everything, and right now Philip Rivers is our starting quarterback. But I’m not going to single one position out. I’m looking at everybody. We’re 4-7. Everybody can be doing something better,” Lynn said.

The past two contests have been the difference between staying alive in playoff contention and having those chances being diminished, and a lot of it falls on Rivers’ shoulders. He has completed 54.2% of his passes with three touchdowns and seven interceptions as the Bolts have lost both games.

There are a lot of things that will have fingers being pointed at for the reason that Los Angeles is sitting at a surprising 4-7 record, but the 14 interceptions in the 11-game span is one of the reasons why the team is where they’re at entering their bye week.

The offensive line has been the narrative all season long, but Rivers’ decision-making, pocket awareness and lack of anticipation is a main ingredient for the team’s lackluster 2019 season.

Nearly eliminated from the postseason, the idea of benching Rivers and playing Tyrod Taylor or rookie Easton Stick has been brought up because the Chargers wouldn’t have much to lose.

There’s reason to believe that this could be Rivers final season in a blue and gold uniform, so giving Taylor or Stick some playing time before the season ends would give the coaching staff an idea what the two look like in live-game action.

Heading into bye week after the dreadful loss, the only thing that fans can think about is what the future holds for Rivers.

“I don’t have that luxury to think about Philip and the future, his contract. My focus is the next game against the Denver Broncos. At the end of the season that will take care of itself. Right now we’re trying to finish this season on a positive note,” Lynn said.

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Report: Chargers ‘not sure’ about attending QB Colin Kaepernick’s workout

The Los Angeles Chargers are not certain whether or not they will be attending quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s workout on Saturday.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be working out in Atlanta, GA on Saturday for a workout in front of multiple NFL team owners and coaches.

The Chargers told ESPN’s Josina Anderson they were not definitely sure whether a team rep would attend Kaepernick’s workout. The said the team might send a scout, but emphasized they’re good with the position.

Had it been two years ago, it might’ve been a different story.

With Philip Rivers, Tyrod Taylor and rookie Easton Stick, it is not a pressing position of need. If Kaepernick had this workout a couple years back, the Bolts might have been more enticed by it because then, the team had Cardale Jones and Kellen Clemens as the backups to Rivers.

Kaepernick last played in the NFL in 2016 with the San Francisco 49ers and stirred up attention after kneeling during the national anthem, which ended up being a legal suit. The lawsuit has been settled and he will look to make his return to the league.

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