The Chargers went into Thursday night with the hopes of deciphering the life after Philip Rivers.
Four picks went by and Los Angeles saw Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert still on the board, both of whom were commonly mocked to the Bolts throughout the pre-draft process.
When the Dolphins were on the clock, it was a little than 10 minutes until commissioner Roger Goodell announced that they were taking Tagovailoa with the fifth overall selection.
It was then when L.A. was face-to-face with Herbert and linebacker Isaiah Simmons. While many fans were hoping for the dynamic defender, Telesco elected to roll with the signal-caller.
“The quarterback position kind takes a little bit of precedent,” Telesco said, per The Athletic’s Daniel Popper.
Prior to the draft, we talked about how the Chargers were in a prime position to land one of the top quarterbacks and that they had to seize that opportunity rather than passing up, like they’ve done in years prior.
“You don’t pick sixth very often. Hopefully we never pick sixth again. I know as a general manager if you pick sixth too many times, there will be somebody else making these picks.
When you’re up there and you have a chance to take a quarterback that you think down the road could be a possible franchise-type quarterback, especially with the type of makeup and the physical skills (Herbert) has, it’s someone that’s hard to pass (on).
Look, quarterbacks are very difficult to find. It’s a very difficult position to play, and we think he’s got a lot of attributes that have a chance for a really positive success here,” Telesco said.
Even though Herbert was commonly criticized among the fanbase for some of his inconsistencies as a passer, he had too many great traits that outweighed the weaknesses, along with potential to be something special.
“It’s a combination of his physical skills, his style of how he plays and then his makeup is just really intriguing to us,” Telesco said. “He’s a big, fast, dual-threat quarterback, with still plenty of room to grow, and we really like his quarterback intangibles, his quarterback makeup, his leadership skills, his toughness, his mental toughness, being able to handle adversity.”
Herbert likely won’t see the field that much this upcoming season because Tyrod Taylor is slated to start, but it will allow him to develop and clean up any deficiencies in his game.
Since Los Angeles was unable to land Simmons, it was clear that they still wanted to land a premiere linebacker to replace Thomas Davis, who was released earlier this offseason.
So that’s why they had a fallback option. However, they didn’t think he would be there when they were on the clock with their second-round selection (No. 37 overall), which is why they were aggressive to secure him.
The Chargers traded up 14 spots with the Patriots (No. 23 overall) to select linebacker Kenneth Murray, who the entire coaching staff really loved.
“He plays with a really violent mentality. You can just kind of feel him on the field with the presence that he plays with,” Telesco said. “He’s a player our scouting staff, our coaching staff, our head coach are really, really excited about.
This is a guy that everyone was pounding the table on for weeks. So we felt like once it got to a certain point, it gave us that opportunity to go up and be aggressive and get him. There was 100 percent buy-in to add him to this football team.”
Murray primarily played the Mike linebacker role for the Sooners, but Telesco believes that he is capable of manning all three spots – Mike, Will and Sam.
“He can play any of the spots that we would ask him to,” Telesco said. “Whenever we get on the field, hopefully as soon as possible, we’ll see where everything shakes out.”
The Chargers won’t be on the clock until Saturday morning after sacrificing their second and third-round selections for Murray, but overall, Telesco and the rest of the team personnel was very pleased with their Round 1 haul.