Los Angeles Chargers: Why trading for Josh Rosen won’t happen

The Los Angeles Chargers have become one of the teams connected to Arizona Carindals quarterback Josh Rosen, although a deal will never happen.

The Los Angeles Chargers are one of the teams that are reportedly interested in Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback Josh Rosen, which has led many fans to believe that a trade is imminent.

It makes sense for the Chargers. The team eventually needs to find a replacement for Philip Rivers, who is in the last year of his contract with the team. The great part about Rosen is he is a top-10 draft pick that likely will only cost a second or third-round pick.

The Cardinals moved up in the draft a year ago to select Rosen and are already reportedly shopping him. There has been a lot of speculation between new head coach Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray with the first overall pick.

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Selecting Murray would obviously render Rosen useless to the franchise and that is where the speculation is born. The problem is that the Cardinals do not have a ton of leverage in this situation, so getting a first-round return for Rosen is unlikely unless a team like the New England Patriots sends its 32nd-overall pick for Rosen.

Either way, the Chargers have been named as possible candidates. Los Angeles has all of its picks in the draft and has a deep enough roster that won’t be burned by not having a second-round pick this year.

It is a match made in heaven that will never escape the dream phase and never become a reality for the franchise. The Los Angeles Chargers won’t trade for Josh Rosen and the front office has already given us a signal why.

The team signed veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor to a two-year contract to back-up Philip Rivers. This signing is smart because it gives the team a competent back-up quarterback that could take over if anything happens to Rivers and the Chargers year would not be over.

Would the team be better off with Rivers? Absolutely. But Taylor could do enough and bank on the run game and defense to win football games.

Think of Teddy Bridgewater and the New Orleans Saints. The same exact thought process is going on there.

The important part about Taylor’s deal is the length: two years. Although Rivers’ contract ends this season, this implies that the Chargers have this plan for Taylor for two seasons, which might mean the team has plans on going year-by-year with Rivers or even signing him to a two or three-year deal after this deal.

Rivers has shown no signs of slowing down, although his time is limited. It is not absurd to think that Rivers can be productive for another three to four years, two years seems like a bonafide lock.

Just for the benefit of the doubt, we can assume that Rivers has two more seasons with the Chargers before hanging it up. If that is the case Rosen will be in the fourth year of his contract by the time he finally gets to start.

There is a club option in year five that the team would exercise and then Rosen would be a free agent. The team would have to jump into a large quarterback contract to keep him if he performs well or could run the risk of losing him to free agency.

Betting on a rookie quarterback that was not that great to sit for two years and then jump into the starting role and prove he is worth big quarterback money is a risky play. It would make more sense for the team to draft a young quarterback in the last year of Rivers’ career, knowing they have one year to develop and plenty of time to watch them grow.

At the end of the day, Rivers might even have more years with the Los Angeles Chargers, which would definitely throw a Rosen deal completely out of the window. It won’t happen, folks.