The San Diego Chargers are becoming a growing threat to trade up in the 2015 NFL Draft to acquire Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, who won the 2014 Heisman Trophy. Rivers' deal expires after this season, and he has reportedly refused to engage the team in talks about an extension.
Recently Rivers responded "Yes," to The San Diego Union-Tribune when asked if he was going to play out his current contract instead of negotiating an extension. He also insisted nothing would change his mind. If so, the Chargers may elect to move on from Rivers, who hasn't missed a single start in nine seasons with the team. Part of his trepidation includes the potential for the Bolts to move to Los Angeles.
"What we've established here with my growing family is hard to recreate," Rivers said. "It's hard to up and recreate that. I know that moves are part of life. But that certainly is fair to say that (not being sold on moving to Los Angeles) is part of it. The good thing is I'm not under contract in a year where we'd potentially be in Los Angeles."
Publicly, the Chargers are standing firm that Rivers is their man. General manager Tom Telesco said "I don't like Philip as our QB, I love him. And I'll go to war with him."
Much of the pre-draft process involves smokescreens and misdirection. While Telesco's words are firm, they could be leverage to avoid the Tennessee Titans driving up the price of the No. 2 pick. The Titans appear to have a need at quarterback, but multiple sources believe they're comfortable with second-year quarterback Zach Mettenberger, and will either trade the pick or select someone of greater need.
The Chargers flew out to Oregon today to meet with Mariota, whose stats last year for the Ducks sparkle. He threw 42 touchdowns against four interceptions, piled up 4,454 yards through the air, and ran for an additional 15 touchdowns. He ran a 4.52 40-yard dash at the Combine, the highest among all quarterbacks.
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