Telesco preps for third Chargers draft – U-T San Diego
If the Chargers are ever to win a Super Bowl – and really, isn’t that the point? – they almost certainly will draw on touchdowns and tackles from players they took in an NFL draft.The lifeblood of the organization. That’s what Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco calls the draft.The annual three-day, seven-round event begins April 30 in Chicago.Armed with six picks, Telesco will oversee his third draft for San Diego. “We’ve got a lot of areas we’re going to look to strengthen,” he said.Will the GM use his top pick, No. 17, to claim a running back such as Georgia’s Todd Gurley or Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon?No running back went in the first round of the last two drafts.Since their first draft in 1961, the Chargers have taken eight of them in the first round. Most recently it was Ryan Mathews, chosen 12th in 2010 and now a newcomer to the Eagles.Before Mathews it was LaDainian Tomlinson in ’01. Late Chargers GM John Butler spent the fifth pick on the 5-foot-10 Texas Christian star, who not only was quick, fast and hard to spot but also a robust 221 pounds.At 17, draftniks also have paired edge rushers with the Chargers. And interior defensive linemen, receivers and blockers.Only Telesco and staff know who’s on the short list, and it’s not certain the GM will, in fact, become the first to draft 17th for the Chargers.In both of his drafts, Telesco traded up in the second round to take a linebacker. Each time, he dealt his second- and fourth-round picks.Speculation this year is he’ll make a bigger play, rising in the first round to take Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.The same theory holds that to ascend to No. 2, held by the Tennessee Titans, the Chargers GM would trade Philip Rivers, who would reunite with 2013 Chargers playcaller and Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt.It would be among the bolder trades in NFL history.Rivers, 33, is a refined pocket passer and the face of San Diego sports.Mariota is the 2014 Heisman winner who led Oregon to the ’14 national championship game.The 6-foot-3 3/4, 222-pounder, who’s faster than many running backs from his draft class, produced record-setting results within a spread, zone-read offense, yet other quarterbacks who thrived in the same offense were not NFL prospects. Going from such a scheme to the NFL is extra challenging, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians has said.Fueling the Rivers-for-Mariota speculation were two events: 1) the Chargers set up a private workout with Mariota that took place last Tuesday at Oregon, 2) Rivers, who is entering his contract year, hinted to U-TSanDiego in March he would be unwilling to stay with the Chargers if they moved to Los Angeles.It seems early for anyone to know where the Chargers will be playing after 2015. No stadium financing terms have been announced, either for the two in greater L.A. or one in Mission Valley.The Los Angeles Times, which broke the news on the planned stadiums for Inglewood and Carson, forecast this month a “strong likelihood” no NFL team will relocate to L.A. in 2016.
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