Updated Team Needs: AFC West
By Editorial Staff
One of the most important factors when preparing for the NFL Draft is knowing each and every NFL team. NFL Mocks keeps a very close eye on each team and will bring you an updated needs assessment at the end of each month. These needs will help as we prepare to make predictions for the 2011 NFL Draft. Continue to check out our team needs page to find the most recent assessments. Also after looking at the team needs move on over to the Big Board and see what prospects might fit your teams need.
The Broncos spent the offseason bringing in aging free agents such as Jamal Williams to fill out their defensive front and so far it hasnt worked out to well. Denver spent two 1st round picks on the offensive side of the ball last season when they drafted Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas and now they need to put more focus on the defense. I think Coach McDaniels would be wise to invest a draft pick on a 3-4 defensive end. This draft is going to have several players that fit the bill such as Jared Crick, Cameron Heyward, and Allen Bailey and all threw would be a nice addition to the Broncos defensive front.
The Chiefs have to be one of the toughest teams to evaluate because of their unexpected success thus far. I am very surprised at the success the defense is having so I am going to stay away from that side of the ball and set my sights directly on Matt Cassel. Other than last week Cassel has looked terrible and if the Chiefs truly want to be considered a contender they may want to look at replacing Cassel. Now it is early in the season but this year combined with last year has left me to conclude that Cassel will never be an elite quarterback. And as I am sure you have heard many times before the NFL is a quarterback driven league. Some options the Chiefs could consider include Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, Ryan Mallett, and Andrew Luck. Of course who they select very much depends on where they are drafting.
The Raiders failed to develop JaMarcus Russell into a NFL star but that only means its time to get back on that horse and try again. Same rule applies to the Raiders as with the Chiefs, this is a quarterback driven league and the Raiders have been without a good quarterback since Rich Gannon left. Unfortunately for the Raiders they traded their first round pick for Richard Seymour so they will have to hope someone out of the group of Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, Ryan Mallett, and Andrew Luck falls to the 2nd round. As it stands now I see only Ponder being available and that’s a big maybe. Other positions they could address is the offensive line where they can use some help at guard b/c Robert Gallery continues to struggle with injuries.
If I was a Chargers fan I would create a bust of Phillip Rivers and worship it like “Serrano” worshiped “Jobo” in the movie Major League. Rivers has been the only consistent healthy performer for this team and all their hopes lie directly on his shoulders. This offseason will be much like the past one with the contract dispute of Vincent Jackson not looking good and GM AJ Smith setting a precedent on how he is going to handle disgruntled players. Don’t think other players around the league have not noticed how Smith has treated Jackson, McNeil, and LT that could really comeback to haunt this team. Now for improvements, I think that Chargers are still trying to find a replacement for Jamal Williams and that defense hasn’t been very good since his sting of injuries. Someone like Oregon State’s Stephen Paea could be a nice run stuffing option for the Chargers in round 1.