Los Angeles Chargers: Time to look for Philip Rivers’ successor
Philip Rivers is going to come up in Hall of Fame discussions. While he’s not done yet, the Los Angeles Chargers need to look for their next quarterback
Regardless of what city they’ve called home, the Los Angeles Chargers have had the fortune of only having a handful of starting quarterbacks in their history. The starters have sustained long periods of quality play. Whereas a lot of teams have had long stretches of revolving doors of quarterbacks resulting in mediocrity, that’s not been the case for the Bolts.
While the Chargers trophy case remains empty, as a result of their stable signal-callers, they’ve been a team that is usually competitive.
The start of the franchise in the first two seasons of the original AFL saw the team lead by the historically underrated (and future vice presidential nominee) Jack Kemp. John Hadl and his No. 21 jersey took over and spilt time with Tobin Rote before becoming the full-time starter until 1973
At that time, Hall-of-Famer Dan Fouts assumed the role (with a Johnny Unitas cameo) all the way until 1987, the pilot of the legendary Air Coryell offense under coach Don Coryell en route to Canton. No team is immune to the revolving door of quarterbacks, however.
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Such was the case for the Chargers after Fouts’s retirement with guys like Mark Malone, Babe Laufenberg, Mark Vlasic, Jim McMahon, Billy Joe Tolliver and John Friesz taking the reins momentarily until Stan Humphries became the starter in 1992.
Say what you will about Humphries, but he did lead the Chargers to their only Super Bowl appearance during the 1994 season. After Humphries, though, things got a little awkward with the infamous Ryan Leaf snafu, who was quickly replaced by veterans Jim Harbaugh and Doug Flutie, no slouches by any means.
The latter would go on to keep the seat warm for a young Drew Brees, who himself would do the same for Philip Rivers. And it is now time for Rivers to continue the trend.
As noted above, the Chargers really haven’t had any long stretches of duds, save for a three-to-four year period in the late 80s and early 90s in their history at quarterback (Leaf is in a category all his own).
They’ve all ranged from wildly mediocre to Hall-of-Fame caliber. That’s primarily because they’ve transitioned quarterbacks in the right way: drafting the next man up while starting another and having them sit and learn before taking over the starting gig.
By no means is this implying that the Chargers’ 2019 season is over, or that Rivers is done and washed up because of a flat performance in a loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 2. It’s just simply how the NFL and the Chargers operate. You have an aging but still effective quarterback and you find the heir-apparent without losing a step.
The top three quarterbacks in the NFL right now are Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers and you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody to dispute that. What do they all have in common? They all took at least a season to sit and learn before starting. Philip Rivers is included in this group, as previously mentioned, and now it’s his turn to play the role of mentor.
The timing could not be better either. Rivers will turn 38 years old in December. With quarterbacks now playing longer than ever before, a rookie that’s drafted in the next year or two will be able to sit in learn for at least one or two seasons.
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Speaking of which, the upcoming 2020 and 2021 drafts are expected to have deep quarterback classes. Now, the Chargers will most likely have to wheel and deal to get one of the elite prospects, but that also works to their advantage since, by the time that quarterback does get to play, they more than likely will inherit a deep roster and a solid coach in Anthony Lynn that should be competitive.
Again, by no means is this saying that Rivers needs to hang them up or that the Chargers need to get rid of him immediately. It’s simply saying that now is the perfect time to groom for the future by getting Rivers’ successor in place.