5 teams that need to think about trading for Philip Rivers
By Andrew Garda
While things seem to have calmed down a little bit, there has been plenty of speculation (per ESPN.com) as to how much longer Philip Rivers remains the starting San Diego Chargers quarterback.
While the owner wants him to be there (which we assume he mans as much as he does that the Chargers should stay in San Diego), as he enters the 12th season of his career, Rivers has to wonder what his future is.
The Chargers may not be actively looking to trade him, but one would imagine that like all teams they will listen to offers.
And there should absolutely be offers, for the same reason that the Chargers should think twice about cutting ties with Rivers. A franchise quarterback is a rare beast—akin to a purple unicorn, otherwise known as extremely rare—and a good one is even harder to find.
Rivers floundered a few years ago, but since Mike McCoy has been in San Diego, he’s been a much better quarterback. His yards total has gone back up, and he has thrown 30-plus touchdowns two years in a row while seeing his completion percentage back above 66 percent.
He was tied for the lead in interceptions with 18 but had just one more than Drew Brees, two more than Andrew Luck and three more than Peyton Manning. He did trail all three of those players in touchdowns, but ranked No. 8 in touchdown passes among starting quarterbacks.
While perhaps Rivers isn’t a ‘top tier’ quarterback, he’s a very good one and in the right system, will continue to do well.
There are plenty of teams who need a quarterback and are in the position to trade for Rivers, and then pay him what he wants on top of it.
Next: New York Jets