For a couple of weeks Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco was a very popular man in NFL circles. The Bolts, keepers of the #3 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, are open to trading out of that spot and there was no shortage of potential suitors.
Then the Eagles traded picks with the Browns, moving up to the #2 overall selection and guaranteeing quarterbacks will go in the first two picks, and now it looks like Telesco will get to roll over a few cell phone minutes to next month.
“Since Wednesday afternoon (the day of the trade) our phones have not been as busy as they have been the last couple of weeks,” said Telesco on Friday afternoon.
But a sudden lack of action does not mean the Bolts are now committed to taking anyone with the third pick. It just means we’ll have to wait a while longer to find out if they select or trade.
“The option is still there. We’d still be open to it,” said Telesco. “We still have six days to go and we feel like we’re in a very good spot. Obviously there’s going to be a great player there for us to take. If there’s a trade there that makes sense for us we can move back and acquire some picks either this year or next year or both, that would be a great option, too.”
Telesco says, since they pick so early, if anyone wants to revisit a trade proposal they’ll likely do it early in the Draft, before the Chargers are actually on the clock. So how far back are the Chargers willing to go if they do find a willing trade partner?
“Good question. I guess that one I’ll probably keep to myself. You can’t go too far but there’s a happy medium. If a team has to come up really far the price tag is usually so high to do it. When you’re inside the top-5 there’s even more of a premium, as you saw with the top two trades. It would be hard for someone to come up from really far away.”
We did get a good sense, however, that unless the Chargers are blown away by a bounty of picks, they likely would not want to look to move outside the top 10.
“You like when you’re in the top 10,” said Telesco. “They’re impact players.”
Well, you like getting top 10 players but don’t like picking in the top 10 because that means you have a pretty crummy season. San Diego has several holes in the roster and plenty of needs. They hope a need matches up with a player they really like but if that’s not the case, don’t expect them to reach for a player just to put a body in the lineup.
“The problem with need is a need we may have today, it may not be a need in September or October and then another player steps up in to that spot. Then a need we don’t have today, it could be a need in September.”
Telesco used the example of his first year in San Diego, 2013, when the wide receiver group was one of the strongest positions on the team but the Bolts still used a 3rd round pick on wideout Keenan Allen, arguably the best pick Telesco has made as a general manager.
The Chargers are lucky that a position of need just happens to be, in the GM’s estimation, one of the deepest spots in the 2016 draft class.
“The defensive line group if a very big pool of players, which is nice. It doesn’t happen every year.”
San Diego is in dire need of impact players along the defensive front to pair with end Corey Liuget, who has played extremely well as a pro given the fact he’s had little to nothing next to him on the line. The signing of Brandon Mebane from Seattle and the departure of Kendall Reyes to Washington should help but finding another man with the ability to get to the QB from the opposite side is an absolute must for the Chargers.
The Bolts also need to address the offensive line. Telesco confirmed the team will exercise the 5th year option on offensive lineman D.J. Fluker’s contract, keeping him in San Diego through at least the 2017 season. Fluker was selected in the first round in 2013 (Telesco’s first pick as a GM) and became a starter immediately.
