Power ranking the AFC West by position groups
Secondary
4) Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders enter 2020 with some major question marks in the secondary after starting free safety Johnathan Abram. What the team will get from their corners, particularly the rookies on the roster, will go in large part to determining how good this unit can be. Because the team features no top-notch players at any positions, they are ranked at the bottom for now.
3) Denver Broncos
The Broncos feature a very good starting secondary, which is anchored by excellent safeties Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson. The cornerback group is also anchored by a top tier player in AJ Bouye. While the depth behind the three of these players is suspect, and we’re not quite sure that Bryce Callahan is a starting caliber corner in the NFL, especially in the AFC West with this speed, the unit as a whole is very strong.
2) Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs, like the Broncos, have three of the four starting safety positions are relative lockdown by top tier players. Charvarius Ward, Tyrann Mathieu and Juan Thornhill are excellent and make this unit stand up against the best quarterbacks in football. Daniel Sorensen is an excellent run supporting third safety who plays often for the team as Mathieu flips often to corner. While the corner depth is young and unproven, especially until Bashaud Breeland returns from suspension, the unit is buffered by the quality of its’ top three.
1) Los Angeles Chargers
Before Derwin James went down for the season with injury, you could have made a compelling argument for the Chargers to have the top secondary in the NFL. Of course, without him the unit takes a substantial step back, and how they replace their star player is yet to be seen. But, the team still features the best tandem of cornerbacks in the division with Casey Hayward and Chris Harris, Jr.; and the combination of Rayshawn Jenkins and Desmond King as safety is a solid group, definitely top half of the league. Because corner is slightly more valuable than safety, we’ve kept the best group of corners at the top of these rankings – though you could convince us of any order for the top three here.