LA Chargers: Ranking the offenses in the AFC West by position
After the draft, most teams are finished with their offseason acquisitions. Let’s see how the LA Chargers’ offense stacks up against the rest of their AFC West rivals, position by position.
The offseason has changed the LA Chargers quite a bit. Melvin Gordon, Philip Rivers, and Adrian Phillips all departed in free agency. High profile free agents like Bryan Bulaga, Chris Harris, and Linval Joseph signed with the team while Trai Turner was acquired via trade. There’s been a lot of retooling that makes the Chargers look pretty different on paper.
While the Chargers were more active in the offseason, their AFC West rivals didn’t sleep in free agency or the draft either. With the starting offenses for each team complete, evaluating them position by position could inform us as to how the AFC West will play out in 2020.
Quarterback
- Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes
- Chargers: Tyrod Taylor
- Broncos: Drew Lock
- Raiders: Derek Carr
Number one on the list is pretty simple when it’s the 2018 MVP and 2020 Super Bowl MVP who’s taken the league by storm. Mahomes is head and shoulders above the whole league as the best quarterback. When looking at the rest of the AFC West teams, the difference between them and the Chiefs at quarterback is pretty stark.
The real debate is what order are the quarterbacks behind Mahomes in. Admittedly, I’m higher on Taylor than most fans. He’s got a real chance to do great with a roster and coaching staff that play to his strengths.
The Chargers’ commitment to running the pistol formation could really elevate his game this year. Lock had a really great five games towards the end of the year, but a larger sample size feels necessary for a true evaluation
After 2016, it felt like Carr was ready to take the division. While he definitely hasn’t been bad the last few years, it feels hard to project confidence in him in 2020.
The Raiders signed Marcus Mariota pretty quickly to be a backup and Jon Gruden has always given non-committal answers regarding Carr as the future. Unless Carr gets back to his 2016 form, the leash may be much shorter on him this season.