AFC West Fantasy Football Rankings: Grades for all four teams
Fantasy football analyst Matt Harmon hands out grades to every NFL team based on their fantasy juice for 2023. Check out the AFC West grades below — go here for his full AFC rundown.
Denver Broncos: C-
The Broncos' offense was incredibly overrated going into last season and it remains so to this day. Russell Wilson can get back on track with Sean Payton in the mix, but his ceiling feels more like the 15th-best starter in the league, not anything close to his Seattle days. The receiver room is a collection of No. 2 and No. 3 options, now slimmed down due to another unfortunate season-ending injury to Tim Patrick and KJ Hamler stepping away from the game upon the diagnosis of a heart issue.
Jerry Jeudy is a big-splash-play threat, but he’s an inconsistent route runner. He’s not a WR1.
Greg Dulcich flashed as a rookie and may be the Broncos player I am most tempted to draft in fantasy at ADP (124.8 on Yahoo) this year. It’s a shame that Javonte Williams may come back slow this season from a complex knee injury he suffered in 2022. If he was healthy, I’d feel a lot better about where this unit stands.
Las Vegas Raiders: B-
The Raiders are a tricky one to read. They still have one of the best receivers on the planet in Davante Adams. I also like Jakobi Meyers quite a bit as a flanker No. 2 receiver who can create big-time separation underneath and over the middle. Hunter Renfrow didn’t seem to get off on the right foot with this staff, but he’s a quality slot receiver. Michael Mayer may not get rolling right away as a rookie — most tight ends don’t — but I liked him as a prospect.
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The backfield is muddled. Josh Jacobs seems the most likely running back among all those scorned right now to hold out and potentially miss time. He was one of the most dynamic players in the league last season, but this franchise-tag beef brings up some troubling vibes. Jimmy Garoppolo replaces Derek Carr at quarterback. At best, that’s a lateral move. He’s also a huge health risk.
Adams, Meyers and hopefully Jacobs are elevating the grade here. The parts may be better than the sum with this unit.
Los Angeles Chargers: B
Justin Herbert is a top-tier quarterback. Just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong last year. He hurt his ribs, the team lost its star left tackle, the top two receivers missed weeks at a time and the play-calling didn’t help matters. With a fresh start under Kellen Moore, Herbert could have his best season yet.
Austin Ekeler returned to the team under less-than-rosy conditions following a contract saga but remains one of the top running backs in the league.
The pass-catching corps should be slightly improved. The main issue is the decline of Keenan Allen’s separation ability on last year’s game film. Maybe it was just a hamstring blip but he’s getting to the age where we need to ask questions. Mike Williams is a good X-receiver but not a true full-field No. 1 receiver. Nonetheless, if he’s healthy, that’s huge for this offense. Rookie Quentin Johnston needs to get up to speed quickly in order to bring much-needed YAC and deep separation skills to the table. If those three are on the field, it puts guys like Josh Palmer and Gerald Everett in more comfortable complementary roles.
The Chargers are a bit more volatile of a unit than often discussed, but I believe in Herbert and Ekeler enough to boost this offense.
Kansas City Chiefs: A-
Let’s keep this super simple: I am not giving a unit with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce anything that does not start with an “A.” There are questions in the running back and wide receiver rooms, but those two are transcendent stars that keep everything moving.
At running back, it looks like we’ll get a split between Isiah Pacheco and Jerrick McKinnon, which was a nice tandem last season, but don’t rule out Clyde Edwards-Helarie getting in the mix. I’m guessing the three-receiver set for this team will be Marquez Valdes-Scantling at X receiver, Skyy Moore in the slot and an off-ball gadget man in Kadarius Toney. Those guys can all be solid in those roles. I personally only like Moore to develop into a high-volume option. But I don’t think anyone here is a top-30 fantasy football option.
Again, this grade is Mahomes- and Kelce-based. The rest of the questions on the roster get them down to A-. Does it matter? No.
