The Chargers are moving on from Philip Rivers. What does that mean for the Raiders?

After 16 seasons with the Chargers franchise, the team has reportedly “moved on” from Philip Rivers according to a report from Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer.

Despite heading into free agency at 38 years old, Rivers apparently isn’t looking to follow fellow 2004 draft quarterback Eli Manning’s lead by announcing his retirement. Rivers told Daniel Popper of The Athletic that retirement is “not really an option” back on Dec. 29.

Despite coming off perhaps the worst season of his illustrious career, it seems that Rivers wants to continue playing for whatever franchise will have him.

With the team set to move on from Rivers, it almost assures that Los Angeles will aim to draft their quarterback of the future this year. There are four quarterbacks expected to be selected in the top 10 picks, with Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love all showing major potential.

The Chargers have the No. 6 pick, with the Bengals (No. 1) and Dolphins (No. 5) both expected to draft quarterbacks before them. With Burrow and Tagovailoa expected to be off the board by the time the sixth pick rolls around, Los Angeles will be choosing between Herbert and Love unless they elect to trade up.

Love and Herbert both impressed at Senior Bowl practices last week, and perhaps the Chargers feel confident enough in one of that duo that they were comfortable with moving on from Rivers.

This is great news for the Raiders in the short term, as teams with rookie quarterbacks often struggle to get acclimated to the NFL early on. With a high hit or miss rate at the position, the Chargers could be looking at a long term rebuild and a lot of time spent near the bottom of the AFC West.

Raiders fans may have been happy to see Rivers back for another season considering that the Silver and Black were able to sweep the Chargers this year with the help of some costly interceptions, but it’s unlikely that a newly drafted quarterback will provide a substantial upgrade right away.

While they were already expected to draft a quarterback, the news that they’ll move on from Rivers should assure that four quarterbacks are taken early, which will push some major blue chip talent down the board for the Raiders. The more talent is left on the board, the higher the chance of the Raiders snagging a high-impact guy like Isaiah Simmons or CeeDee Lamb.

Raiders fans won’t miss hearing Rivers’ ridiculous PG-rated trash talk, but we might miss making fun of his 1,732 children.

The Chargers have a lot of building blocks on offense (Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Hunter Henry), and defense (Derwin James, Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram), but with a rookie quarterback at the helm next year, they won’t likely pose a serious threat to make the playoffs.

Our own BD Williams thinks Rivers could be a Raider soon due to Jon Gruden’s love for older quarterbacks and Las Vegas’ proximity to Rivers’ home. That seems like a long shot to me, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.