Billy Volek to San Diego

cubfanindy · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 4:42 pm Post subject: Billy Volek to San Diego

I assume you saw that Billy Volek was traded to San Diego in exchange for a draft pick. It was no secret that he wanted traded since the Titans demoted him to third on the depth chart, behind Kerry Collins and Vince Young. So it was no surprise that the Titans traded him. You might as well get something out of a disgruntled backup quarterback, who is not the future of the organization that isn’t going to win now.
San Diego surprises me though. What’s their angle on this? The official word is that he’ll be an emergency backup to Philip Rivers, and help mentor the rookie Charlie Whitehurst. Now, that all sounds completely reasonable, but I wonder if there isn’t a little more to it than that… maybe the Chargers aren’t completely sold on Philip Rivers. Sure, they kept him over Brees. From a talent perspective, that’s a bad decision, but from a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense. Rivers has a monster contract that no one is going to take on for a third year QB that has barely played. So you say all the right things about wanting to keep both QBs (which they did), you make Brees a lowball offer (which they did), and Brees signs elsewhere (which he did). Now, you’re stuck with Rivers, but it looks like you tried. Again, you say all the right things to the press about Rivers being the future of the franchise and having complete faith in him, but deep down, you don’t REALLY believe it. It was a business move. It was a salary cap move. What do you do? You find yourself a good experienced quarterback with experience as a starter, who will work for a relatively small contract. Preferably, you find someone who could start for many teams. Charlie Batch is a Steeler. Brian Griese is a Bear. Neither are available. Who’s left? Billy Volek becomes available. You pounce on it. He’s the best option should Rivers falter, which you think he might, and you have someone to run out there to at least keep your offense competitive, knowing that Charlie Whitehurst cannot. He’s a contingency, and one the Chargers suspect they’ll need.

I was Billy Volek would wind up in Oakland or Kansas City, though. The less time they spend with Duane Huard under center, the better.