AFC West All-Stars Voting: Day 3

Good morning, Bolt Beat fans! I may not be a morning person, but 24 hours from now, I will know the full and presumably final roster for our AFC West all stars. That’s definitely enough to get my ass out of bed today to start this poll.

At the time of this writing, Tommy Kelly is ahead of Cam Thomas by a margin of eleven votes. It would appear that we have an underweight nose tackle voted in. For the purpose of the exercise, try not to be offended if I refer to Kelly as Cam Thomas-Lite or Diet Cam Thomas. All of the strength and flavor with less weight and less wins. ? Why is this making me want a beer? Hmmmm… Moving on.

Today, we figure out who will be our right guard. Let’s meet our candidates: Ryan Lilja of the Kansas City Chiefs and Chris Kuper of the Denver Broncos. Yes, I know they are not Chargers and both of their teams have been unable to compete with us for the division out of late, but these are both great linemen who deserve to be in the conversation. Honest! ?

Ryan Lilja and his career speak for themselves. Barely eligible for this AFC West voting, as Lilja just became a Chief in this past off season. Or became a Chief again, depending how you look at it. Kansas City picked him up as an un-drafted free agent in 2004, after which he was placed on the practice squad and waived that September, before being claimed off waivers by the Indianapolis Colts. While in Indy, he started 29 out of 66 games and went to two Super Bowls, one of which was a victory and a ring-worthy performance. After this previous Super Bowl, which was not a victory for the Colts, Lilja was released on March 8th and signed with his hometown Chiefs eight days later.

On the other hand, our other candidate, Chris Kuper, has been with the Broncos ever since he entered the league in 2006. Though, he has not had a career that is as long or high-profile as Lilja, this talented right guard has only given away five sacks in 42 career starts. For a guy so young, that’s outstanding. Toss him in there with Ryan Harris and Ryan Clady and you’ve got probably three of the most talented younger offensive linemen.

I gotta say, in spite of Denver bombing last season after starting it off with six straight wins, I have to give the edge to Kuper. The Colts offensive line was part of the reason that they lost this past Super Bowl. Kuper, who has always been a consistent force and displays the talent of a much more experienced player, is certainly the player that I would rather have in this spot.

I guess I am done throwing my opinion out there, time for you to express yours. This is the last day of voting!

Ready… Set… Vote!