There's been plenty of trade talk surrounding Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.
A combination of him not wanting to talk about a contract, the Chargers hosting a visit for Marcus Mariota and the team potentially moving to Los Angeles has all added fuel to the fire. Now, one of Rivers' former teammates is making a trade seem even more possible.
MORE: Chargers move forward on LA stadium | Trading Rivers now is Chargers' best option
LaDainian Tomlinson is an analyst on NFL Network and was brought in to discuss Rivers' situation. What he had to say was interesting.
"You never want to trade your franchise quarterback. You know that's never the case. However, in this situation, they might have no choice but to do so," Tomlinson said, via NFL.com. "Because I don't know if Philip (Rivers) wants to be there anymore. I think he has lost confidence in the organization. He's seen a lot of changes going on and the L.A. thing is valid. Him not wanting to go to L.A. is very valid."
.@LT_21: "He didn’t even want to talk about another contract with the San Diego Chargers. That tells me that he’s thinking about moving on."
— NFL Media PR (@InsideNFLMedia) April 20, 2015.@LT_21: "I really think this is a situation where Philip Rivers wants to move on."
— NFL Media PR (@InsideNFLMedia) April 20, 2015Tomlinson's insight is very valuable. He went on to talk about how the players around Rivers in San Diego are leaving and how that could influence the quarterback's decision.
"The parts around him keep on moving. The receiver corps keeps on changing. Eddie Royal is now gone," Tomlinson said. "We talked about this before with Vincent Jackson leaving years ago. There are so many parts that are leaving. When Philip is looking around in that locker room and he doesn't see anyone that he's familiar with other than Antonio Gates.
"Now to that point, Antonio Gates next year is a free agent, Eric Weddle is gonna be up. Next year the Chargers have a lot of decisions to make with a lot of key guys. So Philip could be looking at the situation and thinking 'we're not close to winning a championship anytime soon.' "
The strongest rumor is that Rivers will be traded to Tennessee in a deal for the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft, and the Chargers would use the pick to select Mariota as their future quarterback.