Denver Broncos
2020 Record: 5-11 (4th in AFC West)
Head Coach: Vic Fangio (3rd season)
Notable Additions: QB Teddy Bridgewater, CB Kyle Fuller, CB Ronald Darby
Notable Departures: RB Phillip Lindsay, T Elijah Wilkinson, CB A.J. Bouye
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Secondary
Despite getting top notch play from Justin Simmons and Bryce Callahan, and allowing the 2nd fewest TD's in the league, the Broncos pass defense was largely middling in 2020 (16th in YDS allowed, 23rd in INT's. This offseason, Vic Fangio and new GM George Paton responded to these average numbers by kicking the deadweight (A.J. Bouye, De'Vaunte Bausby, Will Parks, Kevin Toliver) that was holding the group back to the curb and bringing in some new blood to fill key roles-particularly at corner. Through a combination of great scouting and some dumb luck, they did just by landing Kyle Fuller, Ronald Darby and rookie Patrick Surtain.
Fuller-who was shockingly cut by the Bears in March-has 6 seasons worth of experience going against #1 receivers and had the best year of his career during Fangio's final season in Chicago back in 2018, Surtain was arguably the most polished all-around corner prospect in this year's draft and if his preseason performance is to be believed, is going to have no trouble adjusting to the nuances of the pro game and while he's battled through injuries and bouts of inconsistency for the duration of his career, Darby is an old school physical press corner with underrated ball skills that is perfectly suited for a nickel/dime package role. Throwing those guys alongside Simmons and Callahan should finally give Fangio the arsenal of reliable options he needs to matchup against the powerhouse receiving corps of the Chiefs twice a year or any other team that's 3-4 deep at WR/TE. If they could finish in the middle of the pack with a blah group of corners last year, a top 5-8 finish with this current group seems very attainable.
Biggest Question Mark: Quarterback
Groundhog Day hits the Rocky Mountains again as the Broncos are once again dealing with an unsettled QB position. Perhaps the most curious part of this particular situation is that they had the opportunity to draft Justin Fields or Mac Jones without the burden of giving up additional assets to do so, but opted to take Patrick Surtain instead and proceeded with Drew Lock and offseason trade acquisition Teddy Bridgewater as their top options for 2021.
In case you haven't heard by now, Fangio named Bridgewater the starter last week. While the move wasn't exactly shocking considering Bridgewater's experience edge, it is a bit confusing. Everybody knows what Bridgewater is at this point of his career: A decent game manager that needs a lot of help from his defense and running game in order to be successful. His play on a below average Panthers team cemented this take as he struggled to adjust to being the guy forced to throw 25-35 times per game and take a shitload of hits (Bridgewater logged a career-high 14 turnovers and only threw 15 TD's despite throwing a career-high 492 attempts) because the team couldn't run or prevent their opponents from scoring with any degree of regularity.
Will he be any better in Denver? Hard to say. There's some intriguing talent in the receiving group (Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, Noah Fant, K.J. Hamler, Tim Patrick), rookie running back Javonte Williams runs with an absurd level of power that could make an instant workhorse back in the pros and the Broncos o-line (Garrett Bolles, Dalton Risner, Lloyd Cushenberry, Graham Glasgow, Bobby Massie) is significantly better than the one he had with the Panthers. But Bridgewater has still yet to break free from his mold and it doesn't seem like a great bet that a drastic shift in approach and/or productivity will happen in his 8th NFL season.
Now this isn't to say that Lock has proven he's better than Bridgewater. In fact, he most certainly hasn't. That being said, Lock was a high draft pick in 2019 that hasn't really gotten a fair shake of proving himself. He's suffered injuries in both of his NFL seasons, has mostly played with questionable talent surrounding him as a result of injuries to his supporting cast and dealt with an OC change (Pat Shurmur took over for Rich Scangarello-who was fired following the 2019 season) during a largely virtual offseason program. In terms of excuses for unsatisfactory QB play, those are all pretty damn legitimate.
While there remains a a very realistic chance that Lock ends up seeing the field at some point this, it makes zero sense to not give him 1st crack at the job. Regardless of how Bridgewater plays, he's nothing more than a stopgap option. As kooky as it seems after his poor performance in 2020, Lock still has a chance to develop into a franchise quarterback. Although his gunslinger mentality (his 15 INT's in 13 games last year tied the league high) and questionable accuracy (his 57.3% CMP ranked dead last among qualifying QB's) are very valid causes for concern, Lock has also managed to show a lot of promise during his brief NFL tenure (particularly in his 5 starts in 2019) and it would be very valuable to the Broncos long-term evaluation process to see if those strong bursts of play were real flashes of potential or just a mirage brought on by appearing in largely meaningless late season games against subpar opponents None of this really matters anyway because they're probably just going to offer the Packers 12 years worth of draft capital in exchange for Aaron Rodgers next offseason and hope that he can come in and pull a Peyton Manning and win them another Super Bowl before riding off into the sunset.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Offensive Production
A Vic Fangio-coached team is never going to be a complete liability on defense. Even last season when they weren't particularly great overall (25th in scoring defense, 25th in rush defense, 28th in rushing TD's allowed), there were several areas where they performed respectably (13th in run defense, 15th in 3 down conversion% allowed) or even very well (2nd fewest pass TD allowed). As I outlined above, I believe their secondary improvement will trigger notable improvements across the entire defense and get this group out of the bottom 10 units in the league (although I will admit that the complete lack of changes to their defensive line following a season where they gave up the 6th most rushing YDS in the league is a bit concerning and could end up really hampering the group on the whole).
Now, the other side of the ball is a much different story. Points that didn't come off the leg of Brandon McManus have been hard to come by during Fangio's first 2 years in Denver and their below average record of 8-10 in 1 score games over the past 2 seasons can largely be attributed to their offense's inability to score TD's.
You're in a division with the Chiefs, Chargers and Raiders, and a conference with such heavyweights as the Ravens, Bills, Titans and Browns. To compete with those teams, you gotta point some points on the board. We're not talking 17 here or 21 there either, we're talking at least high 20's damn near every week. Is this a reasonable goal for a team with an unsettled and not particularly exciting QB room? Probably not. But they have enough splashy skill positions players and a good enough offensive line to make the necessary improvements to make this scenario feel like less than a complete pipe dream as well as a defense that should be good enough to keep them in most games. If their offense fails to make some notable improvements this season, don't be surprised if Fangio gets sent packing by year's end.
Bottom Line:
A crappy QB situation puts the Broncos behind the Chargers in the race for 2nd place in AFC West and the dark horse wild card spot that will likely come with that standing.
Kansas City Chiefs
2020 Record: 14-2 (1st in AFC West)
Head Coach: Andy Reid (9th season)
Notable Additions: G Joe Thuney, T Orlando Brown, DT Jarran Reed
Notable Departures: T Eric Fisher, T Mitchell Schwartz, CB Bashaud Breeland
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Overhauled Offensive Line
A completely depleted and overwhelmed Chiefs offensive line that couldn't even begin to protect Patrick Mahomes on what at least seemed like 100% of his dropbacks ensured that last year's Super Bowl against the Buccaneers was never a competitive affair. To Brett Veach's credit, he took that abysmal performance on the sport's biggest stage very seriously and made significant changes in short order. Both aging tackles who went down with injuries (Eric Fisher, Mitchell Schwartz) ahead of the Super Bowl were released, center Austin Reiter wasn't re-signed and Mike Remmers-who filled in horrifically at left tackle during the Super Bowl-was demoted back to his Swiss Army Knife backup role.
If you do a little bit of digging into the projected starters, you'll discover that not a single one of them was in their lineup at any point during the 2020 season. In fact, only right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif-who opted out of the 2020 season to work at a Quebec medical facility-has even started a game as a Kansas City Chief before. This type of complete overhaul can be very daunting, especially for a team that's defined by its explosive offense, but this group seems to have the ingredients to be at the very least serviceable in 2021.
2020 3rd round pick Lucas Niang-who was also a COVID opt-out-has won raves at training camp, Joe Thuney is one of the most durable, consistent offensive lineman in the league, rookie center Creed Humphrey was a rock-even against good competition-during his tenure at the University of Oklahoma, Orlando Brown Jr. has been one of the best right tackles in football over the past 2 seasons and seems to have the combination of athleticism, pliability and sound technique needed to transition to the left side and Dunveray-Tardif is a solid pro whose familiarity with the system should really help out his new teammates.
Further bolstering confidence in this group is the battle-tested set of backups they have (Remmers, Austin Blythe, Andrew Wylie, Nick Allegretti, conceivably Kyle Long if he can come off PUP at some point) that could slot in anywhere they're needed if injuries or poor play enter the equation. Considering the improvisational skills of Mahomes, inventive playcalling of Andy Reid and blistering speed they have at receiver, they just need a line that can hold up for long enough to give them a chance to pop and this unit seems like they have what it takes to do just that.
Biggest Question Mark: Back End of the Defense
Bob Sutton's final few years as DC were so shaky that Steve Spagnoulo's competence has made it seems like he's the reincarnation of Buddy Ryan circa 1985. Despite the group's general respectability, there are some sneaky problems lurking underneath their solid overall numbers. The primary area where Spagnoulo has experienced some problems is the secondary.
Now to be fair to Spagnoulo, these problems don't show up every week and the fact that he managed to get a group that was constantly in flux with injuries and COVID issues last year to finish 14th against the pass is pretty impressive. However, they greatly benefited from a schedule that was full of soft passing offenses ( Patriots, Jets, Ravens, Broncos x2) and even then they still had numerous instances where they got absolutely shredded (their debacle of Week 5 loss against the Raiders in which they allowed 346 YDS through the air really stands out).
Spearheading their issues is a youth-driven corner group and the harsh reality that Tyrann Mathieau isn't the player he once was. The Chiefs have to rely on cheap, young corners to offset the silly amount of money that have invested in their cornerstone players (Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Mathieu) and banking on these types of players comes with an inevitable yet unpredictable volatility. Entrenched top guys Charvarius Ward, L'Jarius Sneed and Rashard Fenton have all shown plenty of flashes in limited NFL snaps, but they're still erratic and unproven enough that they can't be relied upon to slow down the league's best WR's. Those problems could only get worse now that elder statesman Bashaud Breeland has been replaced by Mike Hughes-who they acquired from the Vikings for peanuts after the 2018 1st round pick put together 3 lackluster seasons in purple and gold.
As for Mathieu, his 2019 All-Pro campaign was an anomaly. His final year in Arizona, 2018 season with the Texans and 2020 campaign were all thoroughly average overall (don't be fooled by his 6 INT's last season -most of those came in garbage time situations) and it doesn't seem likely that he's going to suddenly return to the week-to-week, field-spanning dominance he was known for early in his career during his age 29 season. Unless Mathieu-who will be a free agent after this season- decides to come back on the cheap, the Chiefs should move on from him regardless of how his contract year plays out.
While they're fortunate that the AFC features far less prolific passing offenses than their counterparts in the NFC and this problem could conceivably not come to light very often during the regular season, this semi-hidden vulnerability could very well flare up during the playoffs and cause some serious problems that derail a potential championship run.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Establishing a Consistent Running Game
Running the ball is about the only time the Chiefs offense actually looks mortal. Last season, they ranked dead in the middle (16th) of rushing offenses on the 9th fewest attempts in the league (403) and utilized more of a committee approach (Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson and mid season acquisition Le'Veon Bell all received a fair amount of run) than expected as 1st pick Clyde Edwards-Helarie only ended up with 217 touches in 13 games during his rookie season.
When you have the luxury of having such a lethal aerial attack to lean on, being average on the ground isn't really a big deal. They had the 23rd ranked rushing attack during their title run in 2019 and quite frankly, haven't really had a great ground game since Kareem Hunt got cut in 2018. But just imagine if they did? We already got kind of a taste of what that could look like during Damien Williams' 2nd half explosion in their comeback Super Bowl win over the 49ers and it really just made them hilariously unstoppable. Like is there even a real foil for an offense that has a smart, athletic, accurate, dual threat QB in Patrick Mahomes, multiple elite receivers that can cause mismatches downfield and a viable rushing attack? There honestly might not be.
Clearly, Edwards-Helaire was drafted to be the guy who elevates the running game to the next level and if he can stay healthy and get some more volume in year 2, he could very well do that. He looked super elusive at times last year, appears to have enough patience and burst to run between or outside of the tackles and perhaps the most underrated aspect of this new offensive line is that the two veteran leaders (Thuney, Brown Jr.) are coming over to KC from run-first systems, which means he should have a lot more space to work with in 2021. If CEH does indeed become the top-notch bellcow he was brought into be, the Chiefs odds of retuning to their 3rd straight Super Bowl will increase significantly.
Bottom Line:
If their key pieces can stay healthy and overhauled o-line can deliver, the Chiefs are going to a comparable, if not greater force than they have been over the past few years.
Las Vegas Raiders
2020 Record: 8-8 (2nd in AFC West)
Head Coach: Jon Gruden (4th season)
Notable Additions: CB Casey Hayward, RB Kenyan Drake, DE Yannick Ngakoue
Notable Departures: C Rodney Hudson, G Gabe Jackson, WR Nelson Agholor
Biggest Reason for Excitement: They're Still Not Terrible?
I'm going to level with you Raiders fans, I don't have a lot of positive things to stay about this team. They've been a mediocre team for the past 2 seasons and I don't think that will change this year because they brought in a 32-year old Casey Hayward to class up their young corner room, Kenyan Drake to give Josh Jacobs some much needed rest and mediocre DC Gus Bradley to replace below average DC Paul Gunther.
Really the best thing I can say about them is that they probably won't be terrible again. Darren Waller is really good, Derek Carr is a respectable enough QB to win some games with and their defense might be alright if Cory Littleton can bounce back after a rough 2020 and a couple members of the young corps (Clelin Ferrell, Trayvon Mullen) can continue to build off the improvement they showed last season. They won't be contending for anything meaningful, but at least they won't be the embarrassment they were during the Dennis Allen, Lane Kiffin and Art Shell redux eras.
Biggest Question Mark: Offensive Line
While the circumstances that led to these moves aren't exactly clear (Translation: I'm not sure if any or all these guys requested trades or this was just a typical inexplicable Jon Gruden/Mike Mayock decision), the Raiders managed to trade 3 starting offensive lineman (Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson, Trent Brown) before free agency even started this spring. While you could easily argue that Hudson is the only member of that group that's still playing at a high level, they still dumped 3 starters, received minimal assets in return (their total haul was 3rd and 5th round picks this year and 5th round pick next year) and didn't have much of a contingency plan in place to replace them. That's the kind of reactionary, fly by the seat of your pants magic that only Gurden and Mayock can pull off baby!
So who will get the honors of playing next to returning starters Kolton Miller, Richie Incognito and Denzelle Good-who replaced the injured Incognito in 2020 and will now remain in the starting lineup as Jackson's replacement- in 2021?????
Well, the headliner of the new additions is Brown's replacement at right tackle: Rookie Alex Leatherwood. Since Gruden and Mayock don't know how to read a draft board, Leatherwood was selected 17th overall-which was a spot that nobody else was even considering taking him at (3 tackles were selected between Leatherwood and the 2nd Raiders selection at #43-which they admittedly had to trade up 5 spots for- and every single one was rated higher than him). The consensus on Leatherwood-who was widely pegged to be a mid-2nd round prospect-is that he's a mauler in the run game and extremely unpolished and inconsistent as a pass protector, which is exactly the scouting report you'd expect on a tackle that the Meathead Brigade would overdraft in the 1st round.
Slotting in for Hudson is Nick Martin- a perpetually average center that was released by the Texans back in February. Honestly, I can't really fault them for this because Martin was probably the best replacement they could get in free agency since top dog Alex Mack signed with a more viable 49ers squad.
Miller's surprising development into a decent left tackle and the stunningly high level of play that Incognito is displaying in his late 30's will likely prevent this group from completely falling apart, but this group definitely feels much weaker than it's been over the past few years and that could be a big problem for a tweener team that wants to their offense to be driven by a powerhouse rushing attack.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Not Fading Late in the Year
The past 2 Raiders seasons have mirrored each other to a downright eerie degree. 1. Start off the year surprisingly hot with a couple of nice wins. 2. Fall back to. 500 3.Go on a 3-4 game winning streak 4.Completely collapse. The final entry in that sequence is the most troubling part of this equation as the Raiders combined 4-10 mark over the final 7 games of the past 2 seasons has taken them out of playoff contention after sitting right in the thick of it at the halfway point.
Part of the blame for these late season woes can be chalked up to the inexperience of their players. There's a good amount of youth on this team and even most of the seasoned veterans haven't experienced a lot of winning in their careers, so it's not exactly shocking that a roster full of players with little to no big game experience haven't quite figured out to put forth their best efforts when it maters most.
But anybody with a pair of functioning eyeballs and some knowledge of modern football history can identify that the primary culprit here is fucking Gruden. Starting off a season playing well before melting down spectacularly is a flawless metaphor for the whole Gruden experience. The ra-ra speeches and knocking on wood to get players fired up during team meetings can yield positive results in the early stages of the season when most teams are trying to find themselves, but it takes real coaching prowess to win games late in the year when teams have formed into something cohesive and he's yet to prove he can do that at any point during his comeback tour with the Raiders.
Their narrow Week 16 loss against the Dolphins last year is a perfect example of how Gruden's miscues can cost them a game. On what proved to be the game-winning drive, the Raiders not only allowed a 34-YD reception to Mack Hollins from Ryan Fitzpatrick, but world class dink Arden Key committed a roughing the passer penalty that added another 15 YDS to the end of the play. This tragic double miscue put 2020 All-Pro kicker Jason Sanders in range to make a pretty easy 44-YD kick in the domed Allegiant Stadium-which he made to secure a 26-25 Dolphins victory. The most crushing part? This scenario was made possible because Gruden dialed up 3 straight unsuccessful runs from the 5-YD line on the Raiders final offensive possession and was forced to settle for a field goal instead of the almost certainly game clinching TD. The lack of discipline, heart and execution present in these late game situations is truly astounding to behold and until Gruden becomes more concerned with instilling his team with heart and guts instead of treating them to some fiery nonsensical "run through a brick wall" speech and makes some changes to his bad playcalling habits, his potential playoff bids will keep coming up short.
Bottom Line:
The Raiders are the most mediocre team in football right now and that's not going to change as long as Jon Gruden, Mike Mayock and Derrick Carr remain in the most powerful positions in the organization.
Los Angeles Chargers
2020 Record: 7-9 (3rd in AFC West)
Head Coach: Brandon Staley (1st season)
Notable Additions: C Corey Linsley, TE Jared Cook, G Matt Feiler
Notable Departures: TE Hunter Henry, CB Casey Hayward, DE Melvin Ingram
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Tom Telesco actually invested in the Offensive Line!!!!
Part of why Justin Herbert's historic rookie season was so impressive is that he set all those records while under constant distress. In his 15 starts, he was sacked 32 times, hit another 70 and hurried another 85. Adding all those figures up reveals that Herbert was pressured on whopping 28.7% of his dropbacks-which ranked 4th highest in the league among QB's who started 10+ games last season (only Kirk Cousins, Daniel Jones and Carson Wentz had higher rates). Enduring that type of physical beating clearly isn't good for a QB's longevity or further development, and even their usually anti-spending real assets on the offensive line GM Tom Telesco seemed to agree. It's funny the power watching your potential franchise QB get lit up on a weekly basis because Trai Turner and Storm Norton can't block anyone with functioning limbs can have on a front office guy's tendencies.
Telseco came out and made the biggest splash right away by luring star center Corey Linsley away from Green Bay. Linsley was a steady force on the interior of the Packers line for the past 7 seasons and at age 30, he should be able to provide the Chargers with that same stabilizing effect for at least the next few seasons.
The free agency spending continued when they inked rock solid veteran Matt Feiler to a multi-year deal. Feiler has been a fixture on the Steelers line for the past 3 seasons-racking up a combined 39 starts at both guard spots and right tackle and that versatility/consistency combo should be huge for a group that's lacked both.
Rounding out Telesco's o-line splurge was 1st round pick Rashawn Slater. Slater is one of the toughest, most athletic and fundamentally sound tackle prospects of the past few years, and seems like the exact kind of player that should relish the challenge of playing left tackle in the NFL.
Perhaps the best news of all is that the lone returning starters from last year's group (Oday Abushi and Bryan Bulaga) played light years better than their peers who are no longer lining up next to him. Abushi and Bulaga certainly didn't set the world ablaze, but there were respectable enough and this group should be in good shape if they maintain that level of play in 2021. If the potential this group has on paper translates to the field, the ceiling for Herbert is pretty much limitless.
Biggest Question Mark: Where the Secondary Pass Rushing is Going to Come From
Not re-signing Melvin Ingram made sense from a business standpoint. The 32-year old has battled injuries over the past 2 seasons, was very quiet when he did play last season (10 tackles, 0 sacks and an INT in 7 games) and the team needed as much as money as possible to pursue the offensive line upgrades they desperately needed. With Ingram gone, Brandon Staley will be tasked with solving his first defensive predicament as a head coach: Who is going to aid Joey Bosa in pass rushing situations?
The sheer attention that Bosa-whose posted a ridiculous 47.5 sacks in 63 career games-draws on a weekly basis naturally makes this gig easier for the potential candidates to fill. Chips will be rare and having to roll through more than a single blocker on the way to the quarterback will be even rarer. Even with that pretty ideal scenario being presented whenever Bosa is on the field, there's not really a great candidate on this roster to fill it. 6 year-vet Kyler Fackrell seems like the leader in the clubhouse, but outside of his 10.5 sack season with the Packers back in 2018, he's been a very average player, Uchenna Nwousu hasn't made much noise as a rotational guy on this team over the past 3 seasons (10 sacks/28 QB hits in 42 games), defensive tackle Jerry Tillery has underwhelmed significantly through 2 pro seasons-picking up just 5 sacks and 17 QB hits thus far- after being an elite interior rusher at Notre Dame and rookie Chris Rumph is being viewed as a developmental prospect after an up-and-down career at Duke. There's a very real possibility that Staley-who did an incredible job with the Rams defense over the past couple years- and his DC Renaldo Hill can get more out of the incumbent players and seamlessly work the new guys into his scheme. Still, it's pretty hard to get excited about any of the guys the Chargers have behind Bosa right now and there seems to be a good chance that #99 is shouldering the burden of generating pressure on the QB's alone for a 2nd straight seasons-which is bad news not only for the efficacy of the overall pass rush, but their youth-driven secondary (Asante Samuel Jr., Nasir Adderley, Michael Davis, a newly healthy Derwin James, lone old man Chris Harris Jr.) that could use all the help they could get in staving off the abundance of explosive passing attacks they have on the docket this year.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Justin Herbert Avoiding a Sophomore Slump
A kid who came out and posted 4,336 YDS, 31 TD's and completed nearly 67% of his passes after being thrust into the starting lineup as a result of a team doctor accidentally puncturing Tyrod Taylor's lung with a pregame injection as a rookie seems like he'd more immune to traditional NFL hardships than the average QB. The reality is that the no matter how incredibly polished and ballsy Herbert looked throughout his electric 2020 campaign, he's still vulnerable to facing the same nagging issues that so many greats before him faced. The problem at hand here is of course the dreaded sophomore slump and sadly for Herbert, he's got several common and uncommon obstacles that he'll need to overcome in order to steer clear of this dreaded 2nd year wall.
First off, he has to learn a new offense with Staley coming in at head coach. Herbert showed that he's a quick study by picking up a system so quickly last season during a significantly truncated offseason program and it seems unlikely that new OC Joe Lombardi will go too far away from what worked so well for him last year, but the potential learning curve that comes with picking up a new system has to be taken into account when evaluating his trajectory for 2021.
Then, there's the pressure of expectations. Taylor's reputation as a perfectly respectable game manager who doesn't make a lot of mistakes and can make big plays with his legs and rocket arm from time to time along with the issues with accuracy/throwing under pressure that haunted him during his college career at Oregon led to the belief that Herbert wasn't going to make a lot of starts as a rookie, which naturally kept expectations for his 2020 season very low. Now, the kid is being treated like a budding superstar and we've seen plenty of guys in the past crumble when they go from underdog to top dog. Again, this seems unlikely considering how good he was under pressure last year and how much he's won over his veteran teammates like Keenan Allen with his quiet, cool demeanor (Mina Kimes' brilliant ESPN.com profile that was posted earlier today provides a lot of insight on Herbert's makeup.), but you never know.
Finally, there's the whole defenses having an adequate amount of tape on him issue. While Herbert's mobility paired with the ability he showed last season to make tight window throws while under pressure definitely nullifies some of the wrinkles opponents can use against him, 15 starts is enough to eliminate the mystery around a QB and any savvy defensive coach he faces is going to do their damnedest to slow him down now that they have a better idea of what he's about.
Early indications are that Herbert is going to be a special player in this league and if the dark cloud of doom that seems to always follow around the Chargers organization can stay off in the distance, he should be able to overcome these obstacles and further flash that potential in year 2.
Bottom Line:
With a promising young QB, overhauled offensive line and a new coach that should at the very least not manage games as poorly as Anthony Lynn did, the Chargers seems like they're positioned to be in the middle of the wild card hunt this year.
Projected Standings:
1.Kansas City Chiefs (13-4)
2.Los Angeles Chargers (10-7)
3.Denver Broncos (8-9)
4.Las Vegas Raiders (7-10)
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