NFL power rankings: Los Angeles Chargers will have to earn respect

NFL power rankings don’t mean much. They’re not official and are purely speculative. That said, they do serve as a tool to show how other writers see particular teams.

Peter King is one of the most recognized football writers out there. He often posts power rankings, and though the NFL season is still over three months away from starting, he only sees a few teams worse than the Chargers at this point in the offseason.

In his most recent set of power rankings, King has the Chargers sitting at No. 25.

If you read through various power ranking articles last year, that’s about the area where the Chargers were consistently ranked. Though we all like to be optimistic about the team we root for, it’s hard to argue with his reasoning.

King notes that the team’s offensive line may still not be that good and goes as far as to say that Melvin Gordon will be “lucky” to average 3.8 yards per carry. While I disagree with him there, I don’t disagree with him bringing up the team’s tough schedule, particularly on the road, or the division that they play in. The AFC West is loaded with talent and may be the best division in football. The only other division that could give it competition would be the NFC East, the division that the AFC West teams just happen to be matched up against this year.

On top of that, it’s a team in a new city with a new head coach. Moving to Los Angeles didn’t exactly go well for the Rams last year, though that team’s roster is nowhere near as talented as the Chargers. While an immediate turnaround would make for quite a story, a lot needs to happen for it to even be considered likely, let alone not far-fetched.

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As a result, No. 25 is fair, especially when you’re talking about a team that has won a total of nine games the last two seasons.

But then you look at the team’s roster and realize that if the offensive line can be better, this team may not have a weakness. And that’s not the optimist talking, that’s just realistic.