Rank the AFC West: DTs
This is a thread for the Addicts among us. Who among the AFC West sports the best DTs, and who sports the worst?
Vote in comments, and be sure to keep track of your votes as this series rolls on. It could be interesting to see how good you think each team is once you add up all your rankings.
The following are your depth charts at DT:
Denver Broncos: Marcus Thomas, Kevin Vickerson
Kansas City Chiefs: Ron Edwards, Jerrell Powe
Oakland Raiders: Richard Seymour, John Henderson, Tommy Kelly, Desmond Bryant
San Diego Chargers: Antonio Garay, Cam Thomas
My vote after the jump. Yours is invited in comments.
1. Raiders — The Chargers and the Chiefs run a 3-4, with the Broncos transitioning to the 4-3. The Raiders play both, and with Henderson in the lineup, they can do it pretty comfortably. Henderson still has enough juice to make life miserable for your run game, and Seymour and Kelly can easily rotate into the middle and create pain if they need to. This is the strongest DT corps in the league.
2. Chargers — In the wake of Jamal Williams, the Chargers drafted Cam Thomas, but it’s Garay that played with the ferociousness the Chargers love. There were plays this year where Garay literally threw the center off of him like a dodgeball. With Thomas in relief, this could spell trouble for years for their opponents.
3. Chiefs — The Chiefs have plugged so many holes for their team over the past two years, it’s hard to fault them for neglecting the nose. But Edwards is perhaps one of the worst nose tackles in the NFL (though he does have a solid passrush). Powe presents an opportunity for this squad, but he’ll take a couple years to get his bearings.
4. Broncos — Maybe I’m insane, but it seems like if I were transitioning from a 3-4 to a 4-3, I’d actually draft for defensive tackles, right? I guess not. The Broncos have nothing but scrubs at their defensive tackles position. Marcus Thomas presents… something, I guess, but it’s hard to get excited about it. They also feature zero depth.
So, assuming a 1st is 4 points, and a 4th is 1 point, this is my individual position scoreboard so far:
Chargers: 28
Chiefs: 21
Raiders: 16
Broncos: 15