One of the many quarterback quandaries currently going on in the NFL is the status of San Diego Chargers’ signal caller Philip Rivers.
Do the Chargers want to trade Rivers, who is finishing up the last year of his contract? Do they plan to let Rivers finish off his last season under his current contract? Does Rivers not want to play in Los Angeles—the city it appears the Chargers could be going in 2016? With all of the confusing and contradicting reports floating about, we really do not know what is going on with the 33-year-old veteran.
Attempting to shed some light on the Rivers’ situation, general manager Tom Telesco shared this with reporters (via Union Tribune San Diego).
There really is no update. It’s the same thing I’ve said for the last four months, Philip’s our quarterback and it’s our plan and intent that he’s our quarterback well into the future.
In all my discussions with him, he’s shown a great amount of respect for his teammates and a great amount of respect for this organization. He’s been here every day working extremely hard working with his teammates being the leader that he is. … I know he’s really excited about this season, as are we, and we move from there.
Sounds all neat and perfect, right? However, when Telesco was asked about a possible trade with the Tennessee Titans involving Rivers, he blurred the waters a bit:
I’m going to leave that go.
What? Why would Telesco answer one question so definitively and leave the other to speculate that, yes, there probably have been talks with the Titans about Rivers?
Further questions were shot down when Telesco was asked if the Chargers would attempt to move up to the No. 2 overall pick with the hope of acquiring Marcus Mariota.
Stating that all talks between their players and agents remain behind closed doors, Teleco did conclude the interview repeating that the Chargers plan to stick with Rivers.
I’ve been crystal clear what our plan and intent are, I don’t know what else to say. He’s our quarterback. And hopefully for many, many years moving forward. I think he’s got a lot of good years left in him. Through eight games last year, he was an MVP candidate, so we are thrilled to have him.
There we have it. Are we really anymore clear about Rivers’ status now after Telesco would not deny a possible trade? Not really.
Such is the case during NFL’s silly season.
Photo: USA Today Sports