NFL Draft: Tom Telesco sees ‘6 or 7’ quarterbacks drafted in the top 15 picks

Chargers general manager Tom Telesco has never been one to give away trade secrets in his press conferences. Today was much of the same, with some interesting throw-away comments amidst the usual deflections and smoke-screens.

One comment that stood out came when Telesco was asked about the amount of teams in need of a quarterback this draft and how that could affect their draft board:

“Yeah, I see at least six going in the top fifteen, at least six quarterbacks, maybe seven if we can get lucky. But it does, certainly it helps us, the more that go earlier, it’s going to push players down, so luckily this year we’re in a position that we wouldn’t be taking a quarterback in the first round and luckily this year there is some good quarterbacks that hopefully go high, so there is definitely a benefit to us.”

According to the NFL Mock Draft Database Consensus Big Board, the top eight quarterbacks and where they are ranked on the big board is as follows (as of April 24th, 2023):

• Bryce Young, 1st
• C.J. Stroud, 3rd
• Anthony Richardson, 5th
• Will Levis, 13th
• Hendon Hooker, 37th
• Tanner McKee, 125th
• Dorian Thompson-Robinson, 147th
• Jaren Hall, 165th

It’s very hard to see Hooker, McKee, and potentially Thompson-Robinson jumping so high above their current projections. To provide a baseline, here are the quarterbacks ranked third through seventh in last year’s group, along with where they were ranked on the big board and where they were drafted.

• Desmond Ridder, ranked 33rd, selected 74th
• Matt Corral, ranked 40th. selected 94th
• Sam Howell, ranked 52nd, selected 144th
• Carson Strong, ranked 93rd, undrafted
• Bailey Zappe, ranked 163rd, selected 137th

This seems like a pretty wild assessment, but let’s play along.

If five or six quarterbacks are taken by the time the Bolts are on the clock, which potential Telesco target has the biggest chance of falling in his lap?