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 \u201cthe best\u201d at each unit followed by \u201cthe rest\u201d in descending order.<\/p>\n
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The Best: Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n
The Rest: Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 and depending on your perspective, he has been since his first breakout year\/MVP season.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Third and fourth place are more tricky. Russell Wilson is coming off the worst season of his career, but it\u2019s 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\u2019ll do going from Kyle Shanahan to Josh McDaniels.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 even if not to his old elite self, which is unlikely at this point.<\/p>\n
The Best: Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n
The Rest: Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019ll be the Week 1 starter \u2013 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 Joshua Kelley improved last year, but he remains likely just a third-down back, and Isaiah Spiller has not broken out yet.<\/p>\n
The Broncos are hoping that Javonte Williams doesn\u2019t get hurt again \u2013 if he\u2019s good to go, they may be alright. The complicating factor is that he\u2019s coming off a knee injury that resulted in full tears of three<\/i> ligaments. That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\nWide Receivers<\/h3>\n
The Best: Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n
The Rest: Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n
The Chargers are the only team in this group that has two star receivers \u2013 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\u2019t both missed about a month of games each. After that, they have first-round rookie Quentin Johnston<\/a>, as well as possibly the league\u2019s best WR4 in Josh Palmer. Skill-wise, a lot of them are a bit redundant, but it\u2019s still a loaded receiving corps nonetheless.<\/p>\n The Raiders have the best receiver in the division in Davante Adams, but they don\u2019t 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\u2019 offense, and it\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess if he\u2019ll be used better this year. Jakobi Meyers is definitely a solid addition, but he won\u2019t be a game-changer. After that, they\u2019ll be hoping Tre Tucker impresses in Year One. It\u2019s still a quite solid group, though, if they get utilized correctly and don\u2019t just chuck it to Adams every play and hope he catches it.<\/p>\n The Broncos do have a solid starting duo, but they have yet to live up to their full potential \u2013 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<\/a>, Kendall Hinton, and Marquez Callaway.<\/p>\n