Former Chargers GM shares blunt evaluation leading to Justin Herbert selection

Telesco's evaluation of Herbert and another quarterback in the draft

First, Telesco mentioned wanting to have a plan to transition out of the Philip Rivers era:

"I wanted to make sure we had a plan at quarterback that was seamless," Telesco started. "So the thought was we would like to draft a quarterback and let him sit behind Philip (Rivers) because we know Philip was at the end of his career. He was still playing at a high level, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't a big gap. When there's a big gap, usually that GM isn't going to be there anymore. You can never find that right time to draft a quarterback."

After that, Telesco specifically stated that the Chargers ranked Herbert as their number one quarterback during the 2019 NFL Draft process. Herbert ultimately returned to school instead of entering the draft after his junior year. The Cardinals selected Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the first overall pick that year.

One of the appeals of Herbert was also his movement. Telesco said that former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn sought a quarterback with mobility and the ability to pick up extra yards. He credited the former Chargers head coach as being one of Herbert's most prominent proponents in the building.

Amongst plenty of other factors and years of scouting, one key piece of the equation led to the Chargers having Herbert ranked over current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa:

"People forget that Tua (Tagovailoa) had a really serious hip injury at Alabama," Telesco explained. "It concerned us at the time. We hadn't seen a lot of quarterbacks have that injury. There are other positions that had that injury that had a harder time coming back from it. So that was a big factor for us. You're taking your franchise quarterback that high in the draft, trying to mitigate my risk. And injuries are a big part of that."

While the hip hasn't been a particularly big issue for Tagovailoa in his NFL career, he did miss some crucial games towards the end of last season with an injury to the same hip that was hurt in college. Head injuries have also unfortunately caused Tagovailoa to miss games.

Telesco was then asked again by Sam Monson to confirm that he would've drafted Herbert in a hypothetical situation where Tagovailoa was also on the board. He once again brought up the medical reasons as one of the key differentiating factors for why they ranked Herbert higher, in addition to Lynn's support for Herbert.

We'll never know what would've happpened if the Dolphins has passed on Tagovailoa. But if Telesco is to be taken at his word here, Herbert would've still been the guy.