During the month of August, the Last Word on Sports NFL department will be breaking down every division in the league by position. This article contains a breakdown of each AFC West offense position group. The breakdown will contain “the best” at each unit followed by “the rest” in descending order.
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2023 AFC West Offense Breakdown by Position
Quarterbacks
The Best: Kansas City Chiefs
The Rest: Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders
Picking the top quarterback here is easy. Patrick Mahomes is coming off his second MVP award as well as his second Super Bowl trophy, after a season with 5,000+ yards and 45 total touchdowns. At this time he is the best quarterback in the league – and depending on your perspective, he has been since his first breakout year/MVP season.
Picking the second-best quarterback is easy as well. In most divisions, Justin Herbert would be the top quarterback, but here, he will have to settle for second. He did have a slightly rougher 2022, but that can be boiled down to being injured for a third of the season, constant wide receiver injuries, and having one of the worst offensive coordinators in the football. At minimum, the latter issue will be rectified in 2023 with Kellen Moore, and Herbert could well have a career year with a more aggressive play-caller running the show.
Third and fourth place are more tricky. Russell Wilson is coming off the worst season of his career, but it’s hard to tell how much of that was him and how much of it was Broncos ex-coach Nathaniel Hackett. With Sean Payton running the show, there could be a bounce-back, but he may also just be past his prime. Jimmy Garoppolo has a lower ceiling than Wilson, but did better than Wilson last year; his concern is whether he can stay healthy, and also how well he’ll do going from Kyle Shanahan to Josh McDaniels.
With that in mind, Wilson and the Broncos get the cautious third-place nod, for having a better coaching staff and supporting cast right now that may help Wilson get back to some degree of form – even if not to his old elite self, which is unlikely at this point.
Running Backs
The Best: Las Vegas Raiders
The Rest: Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos
With Josh Jacobs back in the fold after inking a one-year deal for the Raiders, they are firmly at the top here. Jacobs is undoubtedly the best running back in the AFC West, having rushed for a league-leading 1,653 yards along with 12 touchdowns last year. The only issue is they don’t have a lot of solid depth, with Zamir White likely being the next guy up. However, Jacobs is good enough that as long as he doesn’t get hurt, it shouldn’t matter much.
The Chiefs look to have the best depth of the bunch right now. Isiah Pacheco could easily cross 1,000 yards this year now that he’ll be the Week 1 starter – the only thing holding him back is that this is basically the opposite of a run-first offense. Meanwhile, having Clyde Edwards-Helaire as a second option isn’t half-bad. Even Jerick McKinnon, of all people, turned into a legitimate threat last year as a receiving back. This all shows the continuing streak of Andy Reid getting the best out of his halfbacks, and with mostly the same cast, we should see the same results in 2023.
The Chargers have the second-best starter of the division in Austin Ekeler. He may not have a 1,000-yard season yet (two 900+ ones), but he is the best receiver of the bunch and has had an incredible nose for the end zone both as a runner and receiver, scoring 38 touchdowns over the last two seasons. The problem is that the depth still leaves something to be desired – Joshua Kelley improved last year, but he remains likely just a third-down back, and Isaiah Spiller has not broken out yet.
The Broncos are hoping that Javonte Williams doesn’t get hurt again – if he’s good to go, they may be alright. The complicating factor is that he’s coming off a knee injury that resulted in full tears of three ligaments. That’s not an easy thing to return to form from, so some caution is warranted. Samaje Perine is a solid change-of-pace back, but they do not have much to turn to after that.
Wide Receivers
The Best: Los Angeles Chargers
The Rest: Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs
The Chargers are the only team in this group that has two star receivers – Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. They both crossed 1,000 yards in 2021 and would likely have done so again in 2022 if they hadn’t both missed about a month of games each. After that, they have first-round rookie Quentin Johnston, as well as possibly the league’s best WR4 in Josh Palmer. Skill-wise, a lot of them are a bit redundant, but it’s still a loaded receiving corps nonetheless.
The Raiders have the best receiver in the division in Davante Adams, but they don’t have a star duo to buoy them to the top spot overall. We know Hunter Renfrow is capable of producing, but he barely was used last year in Josh McDaniels’ offense, and it’s anybody’s guess if he’ll be used better this year. Jakobi Meyers is definitely a solid addition, but he won’t be a game-changer. After that, they’ll be hoping Tre Tucker impresses in Year One. It’s still a quite solid group, though, if they get utilized correctly and don’t just chuck it to Adams every play and hope he catches it.
The Broncos do have a solid starting duo, but they have yet to live up to their full potential – though admittedly, the low quarterback and coaching quality as of late may not be helping matters. Courtland Sutton has yet to cross 1,000 yards again since the 2020 injury. Jerry Jeudy may be the bigger x-factor at this point. After that, the depth consists of the likes of second-round rookie Marvin Mims, Kendall Hinton, and Marquez Callaway.
The Chiefs seem to be relying heavily on Skyy Moore and second-round rookie Rashee Rice to carry the load. After that, the best the receiving corps has to offer is the likes of Kadarius Toney, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Richie James. Toney is the only one of those whose ceiling we might not have seen yet. Considering how Patrick Mahomes seems to manage regardless, it’s probably not a big issue for them, but the lack of a proven WR1 here (barely even WR2) leaves them firmly at the bottom of this ranking.
Tight Ends
The Best: Kansas City Chiefs
The Rest: Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos
Travis Kelce still remains the best tight end in this division – the league, even – and it’s not even close. Only one other tight end in this division even crossed 500 yards last year, let alone 1,000 – which Kelce has now done seven years in a row. He is also coming off a season with a career-high 110 receptions and 12 touchdowns. The Chiefs don’t need anyone else to contribute to take this top spot, but Noah Gray was a serviceable TE2 last year.
That one other tight end in the division who crossed the 500-yard mark last year was Gerald Everett of the Chargers. He likely has a lower ceiling than a couple of the younger tight ends in the division, but he has a stable floor and is a good if not great tight end to have. Donald Parham remains a strong red zone threat for the team if he can stay healthy.
The Raiders starting tight end this year is supposed to be the second-round rookie Michael Mayer. Having an unproven starter at tight end knocks them down a slight notch for these rankings, but on the flip side, they have a very solid TE2/backup plan in Austin Hooper. He’s had at least 400 yards in all but two seasons of his seven-year career. If Mayer were to get hurt or just disappoint, Hooper’s about as good a backup plan as you can ask for.
If Greg Dulcich progresses and lives up to expectations, the Broncos should move up this list. However, he can’t be ranked as a starter above the veteran starting tight ends in the division at this point, and though Adam Trautman and Albert Okwuegbunam are solid fall-back options, it’s not as strong of depth as the Raiders.
Offensive Line
The Best: Kansas City Chiefs
The Rest: Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders
This was close between the Chiefs and Chargers. Both have two starters with All-Pro history and at least one young talented player. The difference is in the case of the Chiefs, they had two All-Pro nods last year (guard Joe Thuney and center Creed Humphrey), while former All-Pro Chargers tackle Rashawn Slater spent almost all of 2022 on injured reserve and center Corey Linsley had a slightly below-par year. For both teams, their “weakest” link is right tackle – Jawaan Taylor (Chiefs) and Trey Pipkins (Chargers) are both serviceable and get the job done for their respective teams, but you won’t see either of them on any “best in league” lists.
To the Broncos’ credit, they did some work this off-season to try and improve their offensive line. Ben Powers (left guard) and Mike McGlinchey (right tackle) are not splash signings, but they should bring some more stability to this o-line along with former All-Pro left tackle Garett Bolles. Their biggest question mark is at center, where Lloyd Cushenberry simply does not measure up – and they don’t have another solid backup option right now.
The Raiders have a strong left tackle in Kolton Miller, an unexpected breakout at right tackle in Jermaine Eluemunor, and not a whole lot else. Dylan Parham made the PFWA All-Rookie Team at left guard, but he’s still got some progress to make. Alex Bars (right guard) and Andre James (center) are both weak links. They’ve got their tackles set and one promising guard, but this is easily the weakest o-line in the division right now.
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