Power ranking the AFC West by position groups

Quarterbacks

4) Los Angeles Chargers

In six weeks we’ll look back on the Los Angeles offseason and remember that they: let Philip Rivers go and chose not to sign Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston or Cam Newton, and we’ll continue to wonder what on Earth is going on in Southern California. The team not only decided to roll the dice with journeyman, below average veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor, but they decided to draft their theoretical future franchise quarterback to learn from their below average starter…and they took the least talented of the top four quarterbacks in the draft in doing so, choosing to stand pat and not trade up for Joe Burrow or Tua Tagovailoa, or trade down to select the much more talented Jalen Hurts. Justin Herbert has bust written all over him, and the team around him, the coaching staff and “mentor” does little to inspire confidence in his future.

3) Denver Broncos

Denver starting quarterback Drew Lock has more potential than either Las Vegas quarterback – but he’s got to prove it for a full season before we can rank him ahead of the Raider quarterback stable. Even if we felt like Lock was already ahead of Derek Carr (he might be), the composite average of the two teams’ position groups still gives the edge to Vegas. Drew Lock’s backup, Jeff Driskel, would not make another roster in the AFC West (AFC? NFL?), and the fact that the Broncos are all in with no backup plan with a quarterback who has started six NFL games is a little terrifying.

2) Las Vegas Raiders

Derek Carr is an average quarterback in the NFL with essentially no prospects for moving up from the 14-18 range of the league. But, until Lock proves otherwise, Carr is probably still the second best quarterback in the division. Debatably, too, Marcus Mariotta is the most talented backup quarterback in the West, which buoys the Raider rankings here. It will not be surprising to us if Carr leads the Raiders to the playoffs in 2020; but it also will not be surprising if he gets benched for the former Titans’ starter before the end of September.

1) Kansas City Chiefs

If Kansas City had no other quarterbacks on their roster behind Patrick Mahomes, and instead chose to make tight end Travis Kelce the backup, they’d still be ranked number one in quarterback positional rankings because the reigning Super Bowl MVP is that much better than every other quarterback in the division. He’s accomplished more in two years as a starter than every other quarterback in the AFC West combined, and it’s not really close. We do not need to belabor this point – every team in the NFL would trade their quarterback room for Mahomes.