Power ranking the AFC West by position groups
Linebackers
4) Kansas City Chiefs
The Super Bowl LIV Champions had one glaring weakness when they won the Lombardi, and it still exists today – it’s the linebacker position. This team has several below average players here and could even start a player like virtual unknown Ben Niemann in 2020. Anthony Hitchens has been incredibly disappointing since signing a massive contract with Kansas City, Damien Wilson is a career mediocre player and Niemann, along with fellow career depth player Dorian O’Daniel, have failed to be very impressive. The team did draft Willie Gay, Jr. in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft – if he pays off, it will greatly improve the unit as a whole. But, until we see that on the field, this is a weakness for the champs.
3) Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders used the offseason to add a couple of solid linebackers in free agents Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski. With those additions, paired with some decent contributors around them, Las Vegas did enough to overtake Kansas City on the linebacking rankings. No one is going to confuse the Raider linebacking corps with that of the Ravens, or other top units in the NFL. But, it is a decent group of solid players with no glaring weaknesses.
2) Denver Broncos
Without ranking Chubb and Miller here (too), this unit is tough to gauge. Alex Johnson and Todd Davis are fine players, and very much in the same range of contributors as the Raiders corps. Perhaps what has boosted Denver ahead of Las Vegas in these rankings is that the inside linebackers for the Broncos are asked to do a little less than the backers for the Raiders, so perceptually they’re slightly better at their jobs.
1) Los Angeles Chargers
The AFC West does not have good linebackers by and large, but the unit in Los Angeles does stand at the top. This is largely due to the additions of Nick Vigil and rookie (presumed starter) Kenneth Murray to the unit. But, the team’s second line of linebackers may also be good enough to start for the rest of the West, as Malik Jefferson, Denzel Perryman and Emeke Egbule are definitively the best second line of linebackers in the division. The Chargers get to be first here, if only by default.