Chargers GM Telesco has no timetable on Rivers deal
Philip Rivers just concluded his 15th season with the Los Angeles Chargers but the quarterback’s future beyond 2019 is one of many areas that general manager Tom Telesco will have to address during the offseason. Telesco reiterated during his season-ending news conference that Rivers isn’t going anywhere but didn’t elaborate on a timetable for discussing a contract extension.
Rivers this year will be going into the final season of a four-year, $83.25 million extension he signed in August 2015. He will earn $16 million in 2019 — $11 million in base salary and a $5 million roster bonus.
“He’s going to be here. We’ll talk at the right point as far as the moves we need to make in the offseason and the resources we have and kind of see how it all fits in,” Telesco said.
Rivers is coming off one of his best seasons. His 105.5 passer rating equaled a career best and his 8.5 yards per attempt was his best since 2010. His 68.3 percent completion rate also ranked as the second best of his career.
Rivers said Monday that he hasn’t discussed his future plans with the team, but noted he wants to play at least through 2020, when the new LA Stadium at Hollywood Park opens. A possible model that both sides could look at is the twoyear, $50 million contract that Drew Brees signed with New Orleans last March.
“We’ll see what happens but that is something that excites me and that I want to be a part of it,” he said.
Telesco didn’t rule out the possibility of drafting a quarterback this year, but also said that it would have to line up with the team’s other needs.
Telesco’s more immediate goals are trying to keep most of the14 players who are slated to become unrestricted free agents. At the top of the list is safety Adrian Phillips, who earned All-Pro honors on special teams. Phillips was third on the team in tackles (77) and led the league in special teams stops with 21.
The Chargers cut and re-signed Phillips eight times during the 2014 and ’15 seasons before he fi-
nally made it for good.
Gladys Knight, the “Empress of Soul” and an Atlanta native, will sing the national anthem preceding Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3 in the city’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I am proud to use my voice to unite and represent our country in my hometown of Atlanta,” Knight said in a statement released by the NFL. “The NFL recently announced their new social justice platform ‘Inspire Change,’ and I am honored to be a part of its inaugural year.”
Inspire Change, according to the league, is designed to showcase the community work being done by players, owners and the league.
Knight has won seven Grammy awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with No. 1 singles “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “That’s What Friends Are For,” and her 11 No. 1 R&B singles, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”
Let the speculation begin now on how long Knight’s rendition will take. Until Pink’s version came in at 1 minute, 53 seconds, four of the previous anthems had topped 2 minutes in length.
Seattle is giving quarterback Paxton Lynch another chance in the NFL. Lynch’s signing throws the former first-round pick directly into the mix as a potential backup for Russell Wilson.
Lynch was cut by the Denver Broncos before the start of the 2018 season. He started four games in his first two seasons for Denver after being the No. 26 overall pick in 2016 but was not signed by any teams in 2018 after being released.
Lynch was twice beat out for the Broncos’ starting job in training camp and was deemed expendable after the acquisition of Case Keenum last offseason.
Seattle has seen a revolving door of backups behind Wilson, but rarely have they been called into duty. Wilson took every snap of the 2018 season after Seattle traded a lateround draft pick to Green Bay to acquire Brett Hundley. Hundley is an unrestricted free agent.