Those crazy NFL rumors alleging the San Diego Chargers are interested in using veteran quarterback Philip Rivers as bait to trade up into the second-overall spot in the 2015 NFL Draft with the Tennessee Titans in order to draft Marcus Mariota?
Yeah - they're getting stronger and louder.
"Rumors around the NFL continue to swirl about the Tennessee Titans and what will happen with the No. 2-overall selection in the 2015 NFL Draft. As we get closer, sources indicate stronger and stronger with each passing day that the San Diego Chargers will ultimately make a deal with the Tennessee Titans for the No. 2-overall pick," Jason Cole of Bleacher Report revealed.
Ok, so we've got the generics mapped out. What, pray tell, will this big, bad, blockbuster deal entail precisely?
"As part of that trade, the Chargers will send the No. 17-overall pick and Philip Rivers - just as a start - for the No. 2 pick," Cole reports. "Rivers would love to play out the rest of his career in Tennessee."
The Chargers then, of course, would take former Oregon signal-caller and Heisman Trophy-winner Marcus Mariota, thus bringing to completion the 2015 NFL Draft trade that has haunted us all for weeks.
"The key part of this trade according to sources I've talked to is that Rivers realizes the Chargers are not going to pay him on a long-term deal," said Cole.
The soon-to-be 34-year-old Rivers has one year remaining on his deal at $17 million, $15.7 million of which is base pay. The Chargers, per Cole, are extremely concerned about the condition of his body and the plethora of injuries he's endured over the past couple of seasons.
San Diego views Mariota as a great "face of the franchise" - especially if and/or when they make the move to Los Angeles.
With Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt firmly of the belief that his team doesn't need to start over and is simply a quarterback away from serious contention - specifically a veteran quarterback like Rivers whom he has spent ample time working with before - this trade seems like all but certain to go down on draft night later this month.
