Los Angeles Chargers should make a run at Josh Rosen

The Los Angeles Chargers eventually need to find a successor to Philip Reivers and could have an already drafted option available in Josh Rosen.

The Los Angeles Chargers are nearing the end of the road with quarterback Philip Rivers, that is not a secret. While Rivers proved in 2018 that he still has some left in the gas tank, the quarterbacks’ years in the NFL are numbered.

Rivers probably can be effective for another two to three seasons if his 2018 season meant anything. However, Charger fans won’t really know if that is the case until Rivers’ performance in the 2019 season.

Rivers is a free agent after the 2019 season and his performance in that season is going to dictate what the Chargers look to do. The team might look to re-sign him for another year or two, based on how long he wants to play or might want to move on from him altogether.

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It is a tough situation to deal with especially considering the fact that Rivers is the best quarterback in Franchise history and will go down with Junior Seau, LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates as the best players in franchise history.

Regardless of what the Chargers end up doing after next season, it has become a storyline this offseason that the team might look to find Rivers’ successor in the 2019 NFL Draft. This first started last year and was a legitimate draft-day conversation until Derwin James fell to the team with the 17th overall selection.

However, the Chargers might be better off using that draft pick for an actual area of need in 2019. The team certainly could use help at linebacker and defensive tackle and selecting one of those positions would be much more beneficial to making a title run than a back-up quarterback.

There is also the risk though that if the Chargers do not select a quarterback then the team could be blindsided next offseason if Rivers has a bad year in 2019. Sure, the team could select a quarterback then out of the draft but the team would not be getting the luxury of having said quarterback learn from Rivers.

There is the perfect way to accomplish the best of both worlds, though and would come in a rather unprecedented trade for the NFL. That would be trading for former UCLA Bruin and current Arizona Cardinal, Josh Rosen.

Trading Rosen has become a legitimate storyline for the Arizona Cardinals after Kliff Kingsbury ditched his short-term job as the USC offensive coordinator to become the head coach.

The reason why? Kyler Murray. Murray fits much more in Kingsbury’s high-flying type of offense and has committed fully to be an NFL quarterback. Like former Oklahoma Sooner and Heisman Trophy winner, Baker Mayfield, there is a legitimate chance that Murray goes first overall.

It might seem like Rosen is out of the Chargers’ price range considering that he was selected with the 10th overall pick just a year ago. Trading the 28th overall pick for Rosen would accomplish the same thing as drafting a quarterback.

However, Rosen might not even cost that much. Peter King of NBC Sports reported that an NFL GM (and former Cardinal Kurt Warner) said that Rosen is worth a third-round pick.

The Los Angeles Chargers should be flooding the Arizona Cardinals’ phone lines to get this deal done. A potentially franchise-worthy quarterback that gets to sit behind Rivers and return to LA, where he was at his best, for only a third-round pick?

That feels like robbery.

Quite frankly it would not be absurd to send the team’s second-round pick in 2019 for Rosen but if the team can get it done for a third and perhaps a future pick in the later rounds then, by all means, do that.

Rosen might not have been great in his rookie season but everyone must remember that he was a rookie at the end of the day and can only get better. The offensive system in Arizona did him no favors and he can really learn what it takes to be an NFL quarterback under Rivers.

Next. Trades that could flip offseason on its head. dark

And if Rosen does not work out it is not like the Los Angeles Chargers wasted a first-round pick on him. There still is a risk here but the reward far outweighs the potential negatives.

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