NFL DRAFT NEEDS: AFC WEST

The AFC West is home to the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs are the standard of the AFC and NFL right now. They have played in 5 straight AFC Championship Games, with 3 AFC Titles, and 2 World Championships. The rest of the AFC West is tasked with dethroning them. To add to their celebration, the 2023 NFL Draft coincidentally is being held in Kansas City. The Chargers have a solid roster but they historically can’t get out of their own way. The Raiders are another franchise wandering in the abyss. I think Josh McDaniels is a joke and the Raiders are doomed because of it. The Broncos won the Super Bowl on February 7, 2016, but they have fallen way down the mountain since then.

I have laid out the current state of each franchise in the AFC West below. We’ll review their current issues, draft needs and draft prospect targets for their first draft selection in 2023. The Broncos don’t have much capital to trade into the 1st Round, but they could trade up into the 2nd. The Raiders could trade down if another team is desperate for a player. The Chargers can let the draft play out, but I think they should trade up to get Bijan Robinson. I expect the Chiefs to trade down from 31st overall since other teams will be desperate to get a guy and have the 5th year option available.

If you are looking for positional rankings of the draft eligible players on offense and defense, we have you covered at Spinnable Sports. You can also find my Top 105 NFL Draft Prospects and Mock Draft 2.0: 3 Round Mock Draft in the same spot. The Irrational Confidence Podcast (@IRConfidencePod on Twitter) will be dropping our Live Mock Draft Episode very soon. You can find The Irrational Confidence Podcast on any podcast platform as well as the Spinnable Sports YouTube Channel.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS:

CURRENT ISSUES:

• TOO MANY RINGS?? (2 SUPER BOWL TITLES & 3 AFC TITLES IN 4 YEARS)
• BORED OF DOMINANCE?
• LOSS OF JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER AND MERCOLE HARDMAN…..SUFFICIENT WR DEPTH?
• FRANK CLARK NOT CURRENTLY ON THE DEPTH CHART….ANY OTHER VETS BECOME CAP CUTS?
• NO TRUE BACKUP QB

TEAM DRAFT NEEDS:

• DL
• EDGE
• WR
• CB
• S
• RT

TARGETS FOR 1ST RD SELECTION:

• EDGE. WILL McDONALD IV. (IOWA STATE)
• EDGE. LUKAS VAN NESS. (IOWA)
• DL. BRYAN BREESE. (CLEMSON)
• OT. DARNELL WRIGHT. (TENNESSEE)
• OT. ANTON HARRISON. (OKLAHOMA)
• OT. DAWAND JONES. (OHIO STATE)
• WR. JALIN HYATT. (TENNESSEE)

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS:

CURRENT ISSUES:

• CONSISTENT INJURIES TO WR’S (WILLIAMS IN 2021 & ALLEN IN 2022)
• EKELER ASKING FOR AND BEING GRANTED PERMISSION TO SEEK A TRADE
• CHOKING IN WEEK 18 IN 2021 SEASON AND BLOWING A LARGE LEAD AT JACKSONVILLE IN THE 2022 WILD CARD GAME…CAN HERBERT AND THE CHARGERS WIN BIG GAMES?
• DEPTH AT CB

TEAM DRAFT NEEDS:

• WR
• RB
• CB
• DL
• TE
• OL

TARGETS FOR 1ST RD SELECTION:

• RB. BIJAN ROBINSON. (TEXAS)
• WR. JORDAN ADDISON. (USC)
• WR. ZAY FLOWERS. (BOSTON COLLEGE)
• WR. JOSH DOWNS. (UNC)
• TE. DALTON KINCAID. (UTAH)

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS:

CURRENT ISSUES:

• PREVIOUS DRAFTS HAVE BEEN HORRIBLE AND DEPTH IS VERY LIMITED
• OFFENSIVE LINE ISSUES
• VERY INCONSISTENT FRANCHISE
• TERRIBLE SECONDARY

TEAM DRAFT NEEDS:

• CB
• OL
• S
• LB
• EDGE
• TE
• QB
• RB

TARGETS FOR 1ST RD SELECTION:

• CB. JOEY PORTER JR. (PENN STATE)
• CB. DEVON WITHERSPOON. (ILLINOIS)
• CB. CHRISTIAN GONZALEZ. (OREGON)
• QB. WILL LEVIS. (KENTUCKY)
• QB. ANTHONY RICHARDSON. (FLORIDA)
• EDGE. TYREE WILSON. (TEXAS TECH)
• EDGE. NOLAN SMITH. (GEORGIA)

DENVER BRONCOS:

CURRENT ISSUES:

• MR. (UN) LIMITED
• WAITING FOR FULL CONTINGENT OF WR’S TO BE HEALTHY AND PRODUCE AT THE SAME TIME
• LACK OF DRAFT CAPITAL
• SEAN PAYTON IS THE NEW HEAD COACH…..PAID A LOT TO HAVE THE SAME CAREER AS MIKE McCARTHY……..PAYTON GETS THE LOVE BUT McCARTHY DOESN’T.

TEAM DRAFT NEEDS:

• DL
• EDGE
• CB
• TE
• LB
• OL

TARGETS FOR 1ST RD SELECTION:

• DO NOT OWN A PICK IN THE 1ST OR 2ND ROUND
• SELECT BACK TO BACK IN THE 3RD ROUND (67TH & 68TH OVERALL)
• EDGE. TULI TUIPULOTU. (USC)
• DL. ADETOMIWA ADEBAWORE. (NORTHWESTERN)
• EDGE. ANDRE CARTER II. (ARMY)
• LB. NOAH SEWELL. (OREGON)
• CB. ELI RICKS. (ALABAMA)
• CB. JULIUS BRENTS. (KANSAS STATE)
• EDGE. ROBERT BEAL JR. (GEORGIA)

This is the fourth installment of my draft need odyssey through the 8 NFL divisions. We have wrapped up the AFC and dive into the NFC next. The next installment will be the NFC East, followed by the NFC North, NFC South and NFC West.