One Sneaky Big Question For Every AFC West Team Heading into the 2020 Season
What’s up guys! The NFL season is just five days away, so that means more sneaky big questions for the AFC West, a division that boasted the Super Bowl champs! We’re throwing an audible and switching conferences, as we’ll be talking about the NFC North on Saturday.
Los Angeles Chargers
Q: What does Anthony Lynn’s future look like if this team struggles again?
It’s no secret that the leash for NFL head coaches is extremely short, just ask Freddie Kitchens, Jim Tomsula, and Vance Joseph. Anthony Lynn has done a pretty solid job as head coach of the Chargers, as he brought them to a 21-11 record in his first two years with the team. Unfortunately, last year was a much different story.
Los Angeles was coming off a 12-4 season, but then the wheels started to come off, as Melvin Gordon held out, Derwin James missed the entire season, and Philip Rivers showed signs of aging. Currently, the Chargers are in a weird spot where they have a bunch of talented veterans, but chose to draft a QB in the top 10. I don’t really know what to expect from this team in 2020, but I wonder what Los Angeles will do with Anthony Lynn if they go 6-10 or 5-11 again.
Take a coach like Mike Zimmer for example. Zimmer has been Minnesota’s most successful coach over the last two decades. In his six years with the Vikings, he’s led them to the playoffs three times, they’ve never finished lower than 7-9, and they made it to the NFC title game in 2017. However, after they missed the playoffs in 2018, there were some discussions that the Vikings would move on from Zim a year after making the NFC Championship game! Anthony Lynn isn’t in the exact same boat, but like Zimmer, he’s had some playoff success and he isn’t some lame duck coach. However, as we’ve seen in the past, GMs and owners get very impatient when their teams aren’t competitive.
Top to bottom, this roster is one of the deepest in the NFL. Joey Bosa, Keenan Allen, Austin Ekeler, Mike Williams, Derwin James, Kenneth Murray, Melvin Ingram, Linval Joseph, Chris Harris, Casey Hayward, and Hunter Henry, they’ve got blue chip guys at every level. It’ll be interesting to see what management wants to do with Lynn if they have another lackluster season. What if a guy like Arthur Smith or Robert Saleh becomes available next winter? 🤔
Las Vegas Raiders
Q: When does Derek Carr get benched?
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Not so fun fact: Derek Carr has 55 career losses, the 2nd most ever for a QB in his first 6 seasons…behind only his brother David Carr. Derek Carr is now entering his seventh year in the league and the Raiders have one playoff appearance to show for it. Carr’s average season in the NFL looks something like a 6-10 record, 3,799 passing yards, and 23 TD to 11 INT.
Jon Gruden hasn’t made it a secret that he’s not Carr’s biggest supporter. They’ve butted heads on the sidelines multiple times and Carr’s record under Gruden is 11-21, but the biggest indication came when they signed Marcus Mariota to a two year deal this offseason. Many have speculated that the signing was just to make Carr sweat a little bit, but the Raiders gave Mariota $7.5 million guaranteed! The reports coming from training camp are that Mariota is really struggling and he missed an entire week with an undisclosed injury.
Right now, Carr is the clear week 1 starter, but don’t be surprised if Mariota takes the reins at some point this year. The Raiders first six weeks of the season are absolutely brutal, as they start out @CAR, vs. NO, @NE, vs. BUF, @KC, and vs. TB, which just screams 1-5 to me. Funny enough, Mariota was benched last year after just a 2-3 start, so you never really know. It’s clear that neither Carr or Mariota are the long-term solution at quarterback and if the season goes south the Raiders may have a shot at Justin Fields or Trey Lance in the next year’s draft.
Denver Broncos
Q: Does John Elway REALLY believe in Drew Lock?
The Drew Lock hype coming into the 2020 season is reaching unhealthy levels. Broncos fans are losing their minds over Lock and honestly, it’s understandable. Since Peyton Manning retired, these are the quarterbacks who have started at least one game for Denver: Drew Lock, Joe Flacco, Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, Case Keenum, and Brandon Allen. Ouch.
Lock started the final five games for the Broncos, completing 64% of his passes, throwing 7 TD to just 3 INT, and Denver went 4-1. John Elway and company are giving him all the tools to succeed after grabbing Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler in April’s draft. He’s been turning heads in training camp, his teammates praise him constantly, and he raps Jeezy on the sidelines! What’s not to like?
With Fant, Sutton, Jeudy, and Melvin Gordon, this should be a really fun offense to watch, but the sample size is just too small for me to make a judgement on Mr. Lock yet. My skepticism with Lock stems from the opponents he faced during that five game stretch. Lock beat the 5-11 Chargers, the 3-12-1 Lions, the 7-9 Raiders, and the putrid Houston secondary. John Elway has come out and said that Drew is ‘their guy’, but I wonder how much he truly believes that.
The Broncos could be a sneaky Wild Card team this year, but they have some serious questions heading into the season. How healthy is Bradley Chubb? Is there any hope left for Garett Boles? Can A.J. Bouye return to form? We’ll see how everything plays out over the next several months.
Kansas City Chiefs
Q: Does KC’s offense feel a little ’07 Pats-ish?
The most dominant offense of all-time is up for debate, but the consensus top three are the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ Rams, the ’07 Patriots, and the 2013 Denver Broncos in some order. To me, Tom Brady and the 2007 Patriots are the greatest offensive team of all-time, but I think the 2020 Chiefs could sneak into the conversation this year.
After their first Super Bowl victory in 50 years, the Chiefs have virtually everybody back from last year and they added the best running back in the draft in Clyde Edwards-Helaire. This team could definitely average 36+ PPG because of how quickly their offense can score. Pick any stat you want: Mahomes threw 4 TD in a quarter, this team racked up 51 points in just three quarters of a playoff game, and they scored 3 TD in under five minutes during the Super Bowl.
With Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, CEH, and hopefully some improvement from Mecole Hardman, this offense should be absolutely terrifying in 2020. Not only that, but teams with continuity have a distinct advantage over teams with new coaches in these uncertain times. Teams like the Browns, Giants, and Panthers have to learn a whole new playbook over freakin’ ZOOM for God’s sake.
With no preseason, no OTAs, and limited practice time, you have to bet on the teams with great chemistry and ones that’ve been in the same system for a while like Kansas City, Seattle, and New Orleans. Veteran teams will have an enormous edge, while the teams with young rosters and new coaches will be left in the dust. Kansas City might not go 16-0, but they could have a historic season in 2020.
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