AFC West Mock Draft: Two top QB prospects land in division, Georgia stars to L.A. and KC

The AFC West will be a very competitive division in 2024 with the Los Angles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos aiming to dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs. 

With two of those teams still searching for a quarterback, that could be a tough task, but it is a sure bet each of those teams will find a way to be competitive, especially with coaches like Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh in the division.  That is what makes the 2024 NFL Draft an interesting one for the AFC West as teams have 3 of the top 15 picks. 

What will each team do to tweak their squads?  What will the Chiefs do to increase their three-peat odds?

2024 NFL Mock Draft: AFC West teams get bold, and lucky with first round selections

Those won’t be the only questions to be answered on draft night.

Who will the Chargers select with the No. 5 overall pick?  Will the Broncos and Raiders find a way to trade up for one of the top quarterbacks in the draft?  Here are the predictions for each AFC West team in the 2024 NFL Draft.

With the possibility of four quarterbacks going in the top 5 of the 2024 NFL Draft, it is highly plausible that Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers will have their pick between top playmakers Marvin Harrison Jr, Malik Nabers or Brock Bowers.

Any of those players would have Justin Hebert smiling ear to ear, especially a player like Nabers given his deep threat ability.  But, when it comes to adding more diversity to the offense, Bowers is the choice here for the Chargers.  A two-time John Mackey award winner, the former Georgia Bulldogs star is a highly productive playmaker who will quickly become a favorite target of Hebert who had a lot of success his rookie year throwing to tight end Hunter Henry.

Somehow J.J. McCarthy will be available at No. 12 and the Broncos snag him up.  His accuracy, decisiveness and efficiency will intrigue Sean Payton, who has a history of being able to get the best out of quarterbacks not named Russell Wilson.  To be fair, even Wilson was coming into his own in the Broncos offense.  It’s just that Payton wants a QB he can morph into an operator of his offense and McCarthy fits.

Coming off a final season at Michigan in which he completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 2,991 yards and 22 TDs, McCarthy doesn’t jump off the page as far as stats, but both his leadership on the field and willingness to do what the coaches ask of him will make him a solid choice for the Broncos at No. 12.

Wouldn’t Bo Nix look great in a Raiders uniform? 

The former Oregon star will be the fifth QB selected in the first 15 selections of the 2024 NFL Draft. A Day 2 projection, the Raiders will get some flack for selecting Nix this high, but the team will address their need at the position who will compete with veteran QB Gardner Minshew and second year QB Aidan O’Connell.

As a QB prospect who could be the most NFL ready, Nix will be a target of the Broncos, but with McCarthy falling to No. 12, it will open the door for the Raiders to swoop in on Nix who is coming off a season in which he throws for over 4,500 yards with 45 touchdowns.  The Raiders would love for any of their QB options to put up half that production in 2024.

Even before Rashee Rice’s legal troubles, the reigning Super Bowl champions were looking to add wide receiver help in the 2024 NFL Draft. Now with that uncertainty, the Chiefs will no doubt scoop up one of the top receivers and that will be Georgia’s Ladd McConkey.

As one of the more elite route runners in the 2024 NFL Draft, McConkey would be the ultimate weapon for Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. Shifty, versatile and with sneaky speed, McConkey will take care of some of the Chiefs wide receiver needs. In playing with a tight end like Brock Bowers at Georgia, McConkey should see similar success playing in an offense with Travis Kelce, especially as a quick outlet for Mahomes.

In all, a player Andy Reid would have a lot of run scheming plays for.