Chargers Daily Links: Does Tyrod Taylor rank in the basement of starting quarterbacks?

Opinions on Tyrod Taylor have varied over the last three seasons. In 2017, Taylor quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills to their first playoff appearance in 17 season, and that was after the coaching staff tried to bench him in favor of Nathan Peterman. In 2018, the veteran caught a bad break in Cleveland before getting replaced by that year’s No. 1-overall pick, Baker Mayfield.

That set of events shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. It was going to happen sooner rather than later, but that short stretch in Cleveland apparently made Taylor’s stock as an NFL quarterback plummet. After a year of backing up Philip Rivers in Los Angeles with the Chargers, it is finally Taylor’s time to shine once more with a talented cast of weapons he has never had the opportunity to play with before.

So why is he still not generating the level of respect that he deserves?

In Bleacher Report’s latest rankings of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks, Tyrod is listed at No. 32, although he’s essentially tied with Miami’s Ryan Fitzpatrick for bottom-of-the-barrel positioning on this list.

“Fitzpatrick was at least a 13-game starter who had some magical moments and surprisingly won a handful of games with a terrible Miami team last season, but Taylor only started three games the last two seasons,” says Gagnon.

“The 31 year old has averaged just 6.7 yards per attempt dating back to his 2016 season with the Buffalo Bills. During that same stretch, Fitzpatrick has averaged 7.4 yards per pass.”

We all can expect the Chargers’ offense to be a bit less explosive down the field with the gutsy Philip Rivers under center, but don’t think that doesn’t mean Taylor won’t be given the chance to sling it down the field. If Mike Williams misses the first game or two of the season, expect someone like Jalen Guyton to replace him as the team’s deep threat, but he’ll be more of a burner than a jump-ball specialist.

While it’s also not wrong to limit expectations before the offense ever takes a regular season snap, I can guarantee there are not 30 better starting quarterbacks in the NFL right now over Tyrod. Absolutely not.

And now for today’s links.

Chargers News:

Gavino Borquez discusses how the Chargers can vill the void while Derwin James is sidelined (Chargers Wire)

Check out pictures from Sunday’s scrimmage (Chargers.com)

Jason Reed believes the Chargers have had a phenomenal training camp so far (Bolt Beat)

Jason Reed lists the Chargers’ options after the Derwin James injury (Bolt Beat)

NFL News:

The Jaguars cut RB Leonard Fournette after three seasons (ESPN)

Bill Barnwell discusses the “achilles heel” of 20 contenders in the NFL this season (ESPN)

Brad Gagnon ranks all 2020 starting quarterbacks (Bleacher Report)

The Vikings traded for Jaguars DE Yannick Ngakoue on Sunday (Bleacher Report)

The Eagles will lose WR Jalen Reagor for a few weeks with a labrum tear (Pro Football Talk)

Cody Benjamin ranks the NFL’s 32 pass-rushing duos (CBS Sports)