With the No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft, the Chargers found their new quarterback in Oregon product Justin Herbert. But, even if wasn’t there, GM Tom Telesco says he would have taken a QB, no matter what. 
“We felt great about all three quarterbacks who went in the Top 6,” Telesco told Pat McAfee of Barstool Sports (Twitter link), referring to No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow and Dolphins choice Tua Tagovailoa. “Hopefully we won’t pick at No. 6 very often…if I do, I won’t be making very many picks here. If you’re going to pick this high and there’s a potential franchise quarterback, you have to take him.”
Burrow to the Bengals was long considered a sure thing and Tagovailoa was connected to the Dolphins for months. As the draft drew closer, whispers of the Dolphins’ interest in Herbert grew louder and louder. And, days before the draft, there was talk of the Dolphins trading up to the No. 3 pick to select an offensive lineman, rather than a quarterback. That’s one rumor that Telesco didn’t bite on.
“Every rumor I heard, I went through my head of, ‘How would we handle this if this happened?’,” Telesco told Pat McAfee. “Now, the whole, Miami taking a tackle at 3, maybe they really were, I just didn’t believe that one. You make plans, you talk with your head coach…you talk about trading up or down in certain situations. When you’re on the clock making the pick, you’re not discussing what you want to do, you’ve already decided.”
The opinions on Herbert are pretty mixed in the football world. Those that are high on him believe that his elite arm strength will allow him to succeed as a starter. Others are concerned about his pension for holding on to the ball for too long in the pocket. At the same time, Tagovailoa’s health remains a major question mark moving forward and Telesco says he would have been happy with either QB as the heir to Philip Rivers.
“Those that are high on him believe that his elite arm strength will allow him to succeed as a starter. Others are concerned about his pension for holding on to the ball for too long in the pocket.”
One of those things can be taught. The other cannot.
Herbert is a much safer pro bet than Tua. Chargers got the second best guy at the most important position without having to trade up. Good day for them.
He has really poor accuracy, which cannot be taught. Tagovailoa is much safer.
Accuracy can be learned..QBs can improve accuracy and the right system puts them in positions to be more accurate with their throws. QBs have to put in the work but it is possible.
You can’t teach arm strength.
Notice placed on rookie QB locker:
WE DONT TEACH ARM STRENGTH…
so take your PEDs!
Jamarcus Russell would disagree
You can’t sure one example and call it a truth across the board. By accounts Russell didn’t work very hard at all and was as dumb as a box or rocks.
*site
Tua has a rag arm and played on one of the best teams in the country. 3 1st rounders for wrs not mentioning the rbs he had to help give him time? Herbert is a better prospect and put up great numbers on a Oregon team lacking talent and depth. Whether his arm or his legs he is a higher end potential prospect over tua. Not even a chargers fan and know this.
That’s kinda like saying Jamarcus Russell was a safe lick because he had arm strength….
Safe pick was he was a fat ass
No where in this analysis does it say Tua has questionable arm strength. Matter of fact, he has a stronger arm than your perceived #1 Burrow. So maybe you can teach Herbert to be an efficient qb, Tua is already one. Tua has the highest floor of these QBs. The only question is can he stay healthy. Herbert may have the highest ceiling, but he also has the highest bust potential
Idk what your watching fox but ESPNs comp to his was mark Brunell who was a short to intermediate thrower. Very accurate but no depth threat. Mel kipper and Daniel Jeremiah said he has an accurate arm but not the strongest. He also has had a ton of injuries and had a superstar supporting cast. He won’t have that in miami.
Also hard to say how accurate he is when the wrs have huge separation over crummy NCAA teams. NFL is different animal when you have to create your own windows with arm strength and anticipation.
And cbs compared him to Russ Wilson, saban compared him to Rodgers, and orlovsky compared him to brees. And schefter met with nfl execs at the combine that said burrow doesn’t have as good of arm strength as Tua. My point was to contrast the initial posters logic that Herbert is a safer pro than Tua because of atm strength and #2 in the class. But if arm strength is his safe pro barometer, why would burrow be #1. He is the guy with the weakest arm of the 3 and it’s not even a question
Burrows arm strength has been compd to Carr/Dalton on the pro level and nobody disputes him 1
Mobility- Accuracy- Drive- Pedigree -Tbd
Point is, if there is one…Arm strength doesnt drive the needle as much as we probably think
Tua is an astronomically better player than Herbert coming out of school. Not even close
Detroit and Giants messed up not trading back.
Idk what they were asking but if they were expecting a trubinsky rg3 level package for trading up they weren’t going to get it.
With whom? Neither the Chargers nor the Dolphins had any incentive to trade up. It sucks, but that’s just how it goes sometimes
Pat isn’t with Barstool
Others are concerned about his pension for holding on to the ball for too long in the pocket.
It’s “penchant”, not “pension”.
Maybe Trade Rumors should hire English majors. Or editors. There have been a lot of spelling and grammatical errors recently. It is not a good look.
“Or editors.”
That is not a complete sentence.
i like the ambiance of his family’s house
You should have been a writer for Jerry Seinfeld
George Steinbrenner: “Tell me George, why do you think we should draft this kid for the Yankees?”
George Costanza: ” I like the ambiance of his family’s house”.
Lol
For what it is worth I liked him at pick 106 as well….he is worth the top 5 pick
The lack of trade ups was due to the lack of in person meetings. Nobody was comfortable giving away a ransom to move up with that much uncertainty. Likewise, people were unwilling to take less than the standard haul for trades, so it froze it up.
True good point, I thought there were some good moments for someone to capitalize – ATl for example at 16, Mia everywhere, if Vegas was gonna go Wr heavy why not try and phone Jerry at 17 with 19 and get Lamb? 3 3rds in the chest to boot-Raiders set the pass catching corps for years – RUggs Lamb Waller Renfrow Jacobs
Dal was dead set on Chassion and knew they could still get him and an extra 3rd… as much as Lamb intrigued them I think they take that banked 3rd and the guy they still wanted any day of the week to start thier draft
C- Brown/Simmons or LT….. Go with Cam/Dalton/TT this year
Chargers are in a bit of a pickle as an org, they have a great defense but basically the entire offense has to start from scratch after this year – The books arent as clean as Raiders Broncos who are on the up N up and they dont have a qb….then theres Kc ofc
They are the 4th best team in the Div but are pretty good and dont want to engage in a re-build process –
I dont think either Qb was the one to pull them outta this hole- A Lt at 6 not making the trade and taking a Wr at 37, then having their 3rd for a quality Rb mighta been the wiser route – The 2nd and 3rd for Murray was terrible terrible value in such a deep draft that had such good players for that top of the 3rd pick
Their best chance of leap frogging Miami was at 3. Giants liked Thomas too much. But the picks they didn’t use to move up were able to get them back into the 1st round.
Tua will be a bust that’s my opinion. he has injury Concerns a lot of em . the ankles that’d a big one for a mobile qb he might not learn how to be a good QB staying in the pocket. he coukd be like Culpepper after his injury . I’m hoping he becomes a top tier qb but I doubt it . herbert I’m undecided on , he’s got good arm strength but holds the ball to long but that can be fixed . leadership thats one he’s gotta have out the gate to command the team but he might need time with that I’m not sure . he has the tools but needs to get more accurate or they end to surround him with great wrs that can catch around themselves .
I see herbert being a better qb then Tua but neither being a top tier qb .
burrow has the leadership and the drive I think he has a shot to be special with the right surrounding cast but can cincy give him a good ol and tools to get better that’s the big question for me
you all are wrong about the qbs in this recent draft. no one knows who will be a bust or not. most of the qbs selected in the first round over the last decade let’s say since 2009 all have been busts except for 1 or 2 that I can think of and that would be mahommey and Jackson (has an argument if he continues improving). and what i consider a bust is can’t lead a team to playoff wins consistently. newton, Watson, Goff, luck, Stafford, Mayfield, trubisky, wentz, Winston, mariota, tannehill, bradford, rg3, bridgewater (will get to see this next few years), bortles, darnold, sanchez, freeman, weeden, locker, Allen, manuel, tebow, ponder, gabbert, manziel, rosen, lynch. these are the first round qb picks that have produced basically nothing and should have been 5th-7th round picks. teams see something in these qbs that a simple coin flip of picking guys probably could have produced better results.
I don’t know how familiar you actually are with football. Like, have you actually seen the game played? Because, if you think players like Luck, Wentz, Watson, etc. SHOULD be drafted in the 5th-7th round, I have a deep concerns about your lack of understanding of the game.
the fact is everyone selects these qbs in first round when they aren’t worthy. but old wise man could you explain to me what these 3 have done? you’re only one is Watson that you can even argue about without looking like you know anything about football. luck didn’t make it 10 years in the league and wentz hasn’t won a playoff game so please tell me why you think they are first rounders?
Ok, so you clearly don’t watch football, or haven’t for very long.
Wentz led his team to a Super Bowl, which they ended up winning, so there’s that.
Luck carried arguably one of the worst teams in NFL history to 4 playoffs, and a conference championship, despite leading the league in sacks and pressures every year he was in the league. The main reason he retired is because he lacerated multiple organs.
On a side note, who are you to say they aren’t worthy? name one quarterback in the, not named Tom Brady, selected after the 4th round who you’d consider more “worthy” than these 3?