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 position-by-position breakdown of the AFC West offenses. The breakdown will contain \u201cthe best\u201d at each unit followed by \u201cthe rest\u201d in descending order.<\/p>\n
AFC West Breakdown: The Offense<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The Best: Denver Broncos<\/a><\/p>\n The Rest: Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>, Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, Los Angeles Chargers<\/a><\/p>\n Note that three teams in the AFC West are running or are expected to run a 4-3 defense (everybody except the Broncos), and the defensive ends for these teams are being sorted in \u201cEdge Rushers\u201d instead \u2013 which does greatly affect the ranking of some of these teams in the defensive line category.<\/p>\n The Broncos already had Shelby Harris<\/a><\/strong> on the line, who is coming off a career year in tackles and sacks \u2013 but then they traded for Jurrell Casey<\/strong><\/a>, who has made five Pro Bowls in a row. They even have the solid second-year Dre\u2019Mont Jones as a backup. The only question mark that leaves is nose tackle, where their choices are Mike Purcell<\/a> <\/strong>and the third-round rookie McTelvin Agim<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Chiefs don\u2019t have a ton of depth in the defensive tackle department, but they have easily the best player being sorted here in Chris Jones<\/strong><\/a>, who just got a massive extension \u2013 well-deserved given his 24.5 sacks over the last two years. After that, the options are the likes of Derrick Nnadi<\/strong><\/a> and Mike Pennel<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n The Raiders have a bit more depth despite the lack of an explosive player among their defensive tackles. They had Maurice Hurst<\/a> <\/strong>and Johnathan Hankins<\/a><\/strong> already and added Maliek Collins<\/strong><\/a> in the off-season as well. For the Chargers, they\u2019re hoping that last year\u2019s first-round pick Jerry Tillery<\/strong><\/a> will do better, but they brought in Linval Joseph<\/strong><\/a> and re-signed Damion Square<\/strong><\/a> to help out with depth.<\/p>\n The Best: Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n The Rest: Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n The pass-rusher combo of Joey Bosa<\/a><\/strong> and Melvin Ingram<\/strong><\/a> for the Chargers is about as deadly as they come, and can easily create problems for quarterbacks. The Broncos edge rushers (the outside linebackers, since they\u2019re the lone 3-4 defense in the West) are also nothing to sneeze at \u2013 Von Miller<\/a><\/strong> and Bradley Chubb<\/strong><\/a>. While those two as linebackers are great all-around players beyond their pass-rushing abilities, they can get after the quarterback too. If Chubb stays healthy this year, those two will be a problem for teams as well. The only thing for these two teams is the lack of eye-grabbing depth, but their starters are outstanding enough to overlook that for ranking purposes.<\/p>\n The Raiders and Chiefs both have one clearly great edge rusher, and then some question marks. While Frank Clark<\/a> <\/strong>has a better history and is coming off a Pro Bowl berth, Maxx Crosby<\/a> <\/strong>had a rather outstanding rookie season with 10 sacks and four forced fumbles. If he improves at all, he\u2019ll be a problem for quarterbacks. The Raiders appear to be a little better overall \u2013 they\u2019ve got last year\u2019s first-rounder in Clelin Ferrell<\/a>, <\/strong>who wasn\u2019t as impressive as Crosby, but also picked up Carl Nassib<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 who could play at either defensive end or outside linebacker and has gotten six sacks each of the last two seasons.<\/p>\n Despite having two 10+ sack seasons and \u201conly\u201d having eight in 2019, Frank Clark got his first Pro Bowl berth in 2019. He\u2019s definitely the best of their edge rushers by a long shot. After that, it comes down to Alex Okafor<\/a><\/strong> (five sacks last year) with Tanoh Kpassagnon<\/a><\/strong> and Taco Charlton<\/strong><\/a> as depth. That\u2019s not bad, but these options seem to have a lower ceiling right now than the Raiders non-Crosby options.<\/p>\n The Best: Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n The Rest: Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos<\/p>\n With the Broncos outside linebackers being sorted into Edge Rushers, the most eye-grabbing linebacker in the AFC West is the Raiders new addition in Cory Littleton<\/strong><\/a>. He\u2019s had 100+ tackles each of the last two seasons, plus 7.5 sacks and five interceptions in the same time period. The Raiders other two expected primary starters aren\u2019t so prolific (Nick Kwiatkoski<\/strong> and Nicholas Morrow<\/a><\/strong>), but they\u2019re decent enough to round out the lineup.<\/p>\n With a lack of other current or recent Pro Bowlers to work with here, it comes down to depth after that. The Chargers have a surprising amount here; they already had Denzel Perryman<\/strong><\/a>, who finally stayed mostly healthy in 2019, plus Drue Tranquill<\/a> <\/strong>who got 75 tackles in his rookie year, and Uchenna Nwosu<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 whose stats are less prolific but still has made some big plays. Then they brought in Nick Vigil<\/a><\/strong>, who had a career-high 111 tackles last year. And that still leaves the first-rounder Kenneth Murray<\/strong>. Even if a guy or two gets injured, they still ought to be in fairly good shape.<\/p>\n The Chiefs have a few good tacklers as well with Anthony Hitchens<\/a> <\/strong>and Damien Wilson<\/a> <\/strong>as the outside linebackers (88 and 81 tackles last year, respectively). Ben Niemann<\/a><\/strong> also had his moments last year, and they drafted Willie Gay<\/strong> in the second round. A little less depth, but still some.<\/p>\n For the Broncos, it comes down to their inside linebackers Todd Davis<\/strong><\/a> and Alexander Johnson<\/strong><\/a>. Davis had a career-high 136 tackles last year \u2013 even with missing two games. He\u2019s also had 100+ tackles two years in a row. Johnson is also on the rise, as he had 93 tackles of his own last year. The issue is the lack of depth among their inside linebackers, which does hurt them. But as long as Davis and Johnson stay healthy, they\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n The Best: Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n The Rest: Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n The Chargers are in a pretty good situation with their cornerbacks at the moment. They already had Casey Hayward<\/a> <\/strong>as their main starting corner. But then they signed Chris Harris<\/strong><\/a> this off-season to be their new slot corner. They still have Desmond King<\/strong><\/a> (though he may get traded) too, and though his role seems to be expendable now, they should still be able to find some use for him. While the spot opposite Hayward isn\u2019t nearly so flashy name-wise, Michael Davis<\/a> <\/strong>is good enough to not get burned often.<\/p>\n Speaking of Chris Harris, the Broncos lost him this off-season but brought in A.J. Bouye<\/a> <\/strong>via trade. They\u2019re also getting Bryce Callahan<\/strong><\/a> back from an injury that kept him out most of last year. One of the only problems is that with Bouye, it depends on which version of him they get. And there\u2019s also a lack of depth after those two, so they\u2019ll be hoping for some young talent to break out if need be.<\/p>\n The Raiders and Chiefs are both in positions where they have one solid veteran and a bunch of young pups they\u2019re hoping will break out. The Raiders have the newly-signed Prince Amukamara<\/strong><\/a>, plus their new first-round pick Damon Arnette<\/strong>. For the Chiefs, it\u2019s Bashaud Breeland<\/strong><\/a> as their main guy while they’re hoping that the likes of Rashad Fenton<\/strong><\/a> or Charvarius Ward<\/strong><\/a> step up. Given that Arnette is a first-round pick, the Raiders position is slightly more comfortable, but both teams are still depending on non-proven youth to help round out their starters.<\/p>\n The Best: Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n The Rest: Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n This is a rare case where all four teams in the AFC West have rather solid groups \u2013 you could arguably switch up the order a bit if you really wanted to. Every team has at least one current or recent Pro Bowler (or All-Pro), and\/or some good depth.<\/p>\n On the part of the Chargers, they have Derwin James<\/strong><\/a> returning from a 2019 season that he missed most of and didn\u2019t seem quite 100 percent when he did return. But his ability to play almost anywhere in the defensive backfield makes him quite the threat. Then there\u2019s Rayshawn Jenkins<\/a><\/strong>, who had an impressive breakout season during a year when basically all the starting safeties were on injured reserve. Now it looks like he\u2019ll keep his starting spot. Jenkins and James will be a good combo for the Chargers. Having last year\u2019s second-round pick Nasir Adderley<\/a> <\/strong>for depth doesn\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n The Chiefs have Tyrann Mathieu<\/a><\/strong> as their own prolific starting safety, who had his best season in a while in 2019. Juan Thornhill<\/a> <\/strong>had a nice rookie season, and they\u2019re in good enough shape with Daniel Sorensen<\/a> <\/strong>as depth. He managed to mostly shut down George Kittle<\/strong><\/a> in the Super Bowl \u2013 nothing to sneeze at.<\/p>\n The Broncos have the least depth in the AFC West, but their starters \u2013 Justin Simmons<\/strong><\/a> and Kareem Jackson<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 are both good. Simmons had an excellent season in 2019 and got voted Second-Team All-Pro as a result. He\u2019s pushing his way up on the list of safeties, and the Broncos will definitely want to extend him.<\/p>\n The Raiders might have the most depth, but they also have zero Pro Bowlers. They already had Lamarcus Joyner<\/strong>, whose 2019 season was a little underwhelming after the contract he got. There\u2019s also Johnathan Abram<\/strong> (2019 first-round pick) returning, who missed almost all of his rookie year \u2013 plus Erik Harris<\/strong><\/a>, who had a couple of great games and something of a semi-breakout year. They also signed Damarious Randall<\/a><\/strong> and Jeff Heath<\/strong><\/a>, who both have solid histories but are coming off down seasons. It\u2019s hard to know how that lineup is going to shake out with at least five options to choose from. But if Harris keeps his momentum going and Abram lives up to his first-round billing, they\u2019ll be in good shape.<\/p>\n The Best: Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n The Rest: Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n While the Chiefs do have an undrafted rookie at punter in Tommy Townsend<\/strong>, they still have the best kicker in the AFC West (Harrison Butker<\/strong><\/a>) and the best return man in the division (Mecole Hardman<\/strong><\/a>). Considering how long they stuck with Dustin Colquitt<\/a><\/strong>, they must have good reason to be trusting Townsend. But having Butker and Hardman does send their special teams unit to the top.<\/p>\n The Chargers finally have both a solid kicker and punter, via Michael Badgley<\/strong><\/a> and Ty Long<\/strong><\/a>, respectively. Long is even capable of stepping in as kicker if needed in an emergency. Their return game is less prolific, though Desmond King is serviceable. He only had 5.6 yards-per-punt-return, but he did have one touchdown \u2013 thus he is capable of the occasional flash.<\/p>\n The Broncos brought in a good new punter in Sam Martin<\/strong><\/a>, but they\u2019re still rolling with Brandon McManus<\/strong><\/a> at kicker. The thing about McManus is that he can kick it a long way, but he has no idea where it\u2019s going sometimes. They do have a decent return man in Diontae Spencer<\/strong><\/a>, though.<\/p>\n The Raiders have the shakiest special teams of the lot. Kicker Daniel Carlson<\/strong><\/a>, after bouncing back during his 2018 season with the Raiders, came back down to earth in 2019, kicking a rather poor 19-for-26 (73.1%). That leaves the second-year punter A.J. Cole<\/a> III, <\/strong>who had an average season in 2019. And with Dwayne Harris<\/strong><\/a> and Trevor Davis<\/strong><\/a> gone, it\u2019s actually not entirely clear who will be doing return man duties \u2013 besides maybe Jalen Richard<\/a><\/strong>. That level of shakiness at the special teams unit leaves them at the bottom in the AFC West.<\/p>\n Main Photo:AFC West Breakdown by Position: Defense<\/h2>\n
Defensive Line<\/h3>\n
Edge Rushers<\/h3>\n
Linebackers<\/h3>\n
Cornerbacks<\/h3>\n
Safeties<\/h3>\n
Special Teams<\/h3>\n
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>