During August, as football season rolls upon us, the Last Word On Sports NFL department will be breaking down every division in the league by position. This is the 2018 breakdown of the AFC West at the defensive and special teams positions. This will include “the best” of each unit, with “the rest” following in descending order.
2018 AFC West Breakdown: The Defense and Special Teams
Defensive Line
The Best: Los Angeles Chargers
The Rest: Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs
This essentially comes down to who has the best defensive ends, because great defensive tackles are not in high supply in the West. While the Raiders arguably have the best of the bunch in Khalil Mack, hardly anyone else in the entire league has an actual pass-rusher duo as terrifying to quarterbacks as Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram on the Chargers. The Raiders may have the ability to build something similar with Mack and Bruce Irvin, but they’re not there quite yet. Still, Mack does enough on his own.
The Broncos have a couple of good defensive ends as well in Derek Wolfe and Shelby Harris, although not as prolific as Mack or Bosa by any means. Clinton McDonald might also prove to be a decent pickup for them at the position. They’re still a bit thin at defensive tackle, but they could try and put one of the previous three mentioned in at that spot instead and do fine.
The Chiefs really only have one strong player on the defensive line right now, and that is Chris Jones. Allen Bailey might be okay as well if he can stay healthy. Beyond that, they literally have almost no depth at defensive end (only three on the roster) and an overabundance of nose tackles (seven) — none of which are particularly remarkable. Third-round pick rookie Derrick Nnadi might be the biggest shoe-in for being out there, and it’s anybody’s guess who else out of all those guys will still be on the roster come Week One.
Linebackers
The Best: Denver Broncos
The Rest: Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers
Not only do the Broncos have the best linebacker in the division in Von Miller, but they also have a lot of depth at the position. In addition to Miller, they have Brandon Marshall, Shane Ray (when he returns from injury), Shaquil Barrett, and this year’s fifth overall pick Bradley Chubb. All five of these players can make an impact. Few teams can likely say they have that many good linebackers they can rotate in and out.
The Chiefs linebacker corps is not what it was a few years ago, but it’s still got some notable veterans and up-and-coming younger players. Justin Houston is getting older, but he’s still making an impact out there. And when Dee Ford returns from injury, he should be good as well. They also brought in Anthony Hitchens this off-season, who had put up 304 tackles with the Dallas Cowboys in the last four years. There’s not a lot of depth beyond those three (save for maybe Frank Zombo), but they still have a decent lineup and a better one than the two remaining teams in the division.
The Raiders made some acquisitions to boost their linebacker corps this off-season, including Derrick Johnson, Tahir Whitehead, and Kyle Wilber. Johnson probably doesn’t have much left in the tank at 35. Still, he and Whitehead are probably still going to be the best options on that lineup. There aren’t a lot of other options for the team to go to.
At the moment, the linebacker position is probably the biggest glaring hole on the Chargers roster. Jatavis Brown and Denzel Perryman are the best that group has to offer – and the latter has had trouble staying healthy. That leaves hardly anyone else besides maybe Kyle Emanuel. The lack of depth or hardly anyone that good to begin with leaves the Chargers at the bottom of the division at this position.
Cornerback
The Best: Los Angeles Chargers
The Rest: Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs
This ranking may come as a slight surprise to some, but after trading away Aqib Talib, the Broncos cornerback group is a bit thinner. They do have Bradley Roby to step up in his absence alongside clear-cut starter Chris Harris, but they don’t have a lot of depth beyond that besides maybe the often injured Tramaine Brock.
The Chargers do have the best corner in the division in Casey Hayward. Their problem has been the often-injured Jason Verrett and having to put someone else out there constantly. Surprisingly, Trevor Williams did well last year in that number two corner spot, and they have Desmond King in the secondary too. Three solid corners to work with (four if Verrett returns in 2019); that’s more than the Broncos have right now.
The Raiders, however, don’t have a lot of good talent at the position in general and have not in general for the last few years. They did make some acquisitions this off-season in Rashaan Melvin, Daryl Worley, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The latter has declined the last couple years and may not have much left in the tank, so Melvin looks to be the best bet now.
The Chiefs also look to have a quite different secondary. They traded away Marcus Peters, who was inconsistent but still their best corner. And they brought in Kendall Fuller and David Amerson. Fuller will be solid, while the main concern with Amerson will be staying healthy. However, they do not really have any depth beyond those two; and that must be concerning given that they had one of the worst secondaries in the league last year. Maybe having a less volatile starting corner in Fuller will help with that, but they will have to prove themselves.
Safety
The Best: Denver Broncos
The Rest: Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs
Most of the teams in the division don’t really have a good and proven starter at both safety positions. The Broncos are the closest, having Darian Stewart and Justin Simmons out there. That’s not a great safety duo, but it’s quite serviceable.
Meanwhile, the Chargers have a more interesting situation at safety. They have first-round pick Derwin James, who is expected to make an impact right away. After that, they have Jahleel Addae at strong safety – who is generally better at tackling than actually being a ball hawk. Adrian Phillips is also a decent member of the safety rotation. The problem is, there’s too much uncertainty right now about who’s going to be out there. We can expect great things out of James this year, but it’s anybody’s guess who will step up after that.
The Raiders appear to be pretty set at free safety with veteran Reggie Nelson and free agent signing Marcus Gilchrist, but not so much at strong safety. Karl Joseph looks to be their best bet there, and he had a decent enough year in 2017. He’s kind of similar to Addae, though; more notable for tackling than for defending the pass.
The Chiefs are just the opposite. For them, their safety performance may depend upon how Eric Berry does after an Achilles injury last year. But even then, they have another decent strong safety in Daniel Sorensen. But the only two free safeties on the roster are Eric Murray and rookie Armani Watts, neither of which inspire confidence.
Special Teams
The Best: Kansas City Chiefs
The Rest: Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers
The Chiefs must feel pretty good about their special teams. Despite losing kicker Cairo Santos to injury last year, they were able to put another rookie kicker out there in Harrison Butker who did quite well. Their punter (Dustin Colquitt) is pretty good too. And furthermore, they have Tyreek Hill in the return game, which only propels them up the special teams charts even further.
None of the other teams have their special teams as well put together right now. All of them have questions at kicker, and a couple at punter too. The Raiders just get the edge for second place because they signed return man Dwayne Harris; neither the Broncos nor Chargers have a notable returner right now. The Raiders look to have rookies at both kicker and punter this year (Eddy Pinero and Johnny Townsend, respectively), which I do not feel is generally a good plan.
The Broncos at least don’t have rookies at those positions, but neither their kicker or punter inspire confidence right now. Kicker Brandon McManus does have a good leg, but one has no idea where that ball is going sometimes; he finished 24-for-32 (75 percent) last year. Meanwhile, they actually brought in Marquette King from the Raiders. However, he’s already been causing trouble and if that keeps up, he may not last long.
The Chargers had an obscenely awful kicker problem last year; they went through four kickers. Now they have a competition between Caleb Sturgis and Roberto Aguayo. And Aguayo may end up winning it. While he may be doing well right now, it’s hard to not forget his awful rookie year two years ago. There could be potentially a good comeback story there. But let us not hold our breath. Drew Kaser is getting a bit better at punter, but the abysmal kicker problem alone leaves Chargers at dead last in special teams in the division.
Coaching
The Best: Kansas City Chiefs
The Rest: Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos
Andy Reid is often looked upon poorly for not having won a Super Bowl in almost two decades, but he’s gotten his squads to the playoffs most years. And really, the fact that he’s been able to consistently take the Chiefs to the playoffs with the checkdown-heavy quarterback Alex Smith as his quarterback is impressive. He has gone one-and-done an awful lot with the Chiefs, but he’s still accomplished more than most of the rest of the competition.
Then there’s Jon Gruden returning to the Raiders. Here’s the thing about him: it’s been 10 years. And although he did well with the Raiders and won a Super Bowl for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s still been awhile. We don’t know yet if he’ll be able to keep up with the way the game has changed in that past decade. Or if the team will rally around him. He may have won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers, but he still had a few pretty awful seasons with them too. Essentially, Gruden has to prove himself all over again, to a certain degree. He’s still definitely more proven than the remaining two coaches, though.
Both Anthony Lynn (Chargers) and Vance Joseph (Broncos) are only in their second years. Lynn should be commended for bringing the Chargers back from 0-4 to 9-7 and almost getting them to the playoffs. Joseph, on the other hand, did not have a very good first year with the Broncos. He may find himself back to coordinating defenses in 2019 if they don’t improve this year.
Be sure to check out LWOPF’s breakdown of the top units in the AFC West on offense.
