AFC West Watch – Receivers and Tight Ends

The AFC West Watch segment of BroncoTalk begins today, where I break down the rankings of the AFC West position by position. It all builds up to when I crown my predicted AFC West champion in August in my completely impartial way.

Ranking the wide receivers and tight ends in the AFC West is a tricky task, and if I had another week I’d split the two. So, I’ll split them here then review the overall between the two combined.

The Tight Ends

The AFC West features teams with the best two tight ends in the entire league in Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates. Needless to say, having those multiple Pro Bowlers in the division doesn’t leave much room for the Broncos to crack the top half. If I were to rank the entire AFC’s tight ends, I would likely list them almost exactly as is for the top 3, with perhaps only the Browns and Ravens competing for the 3 spot with the Broncos. On to the rankings.

1. San Diego Chargers
Most Valuable Player: Antonio Gates. Sidekick: Brandon Manumaleuna.
The Chargers have the best tight end in the league right now – no one has been more productive in terms of yards or touchdowns at the tight end position over the last three years. Once a rising star, and now just a legitimate one, Gates even exercised his Mile High demons by finding the end zone for the first time in Denver this past season. While Gonzalez of the Chiefs has now broken Shannon Sharpe‘s record, and he just signed the biggest tight end contract in history, his best years are behind him. The nod goes to Chargers when you consider that their #2 TE, Manumaleuna, had 4 TDs last year and the Chiefs’ number two had none.

2. Kansas City Chiefs
Most Valuable Player: Tony Gonzalez. Sidekick: Jason Dunn
The Chiefs now boast the best tight end in history, at least as far as the record books are concerned (I’ll never agree because Sharpe accomplished his stats while sharing the spotlight with Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey, something T-Gon never had to go through). Their #2 guy is a nobody, much like their receivers, but Gonzalez is good enough to launch them above the Broncos’ tight end by comittee approach.

3. Denver Broncos
Most Valuable Player: Daniel Graham. Sidekick: Tony Scheffler
By far the best 2 tight ends in the division, the Broncos probably have the 3rd or 4th best in the entire AFC – the West is just so stacked with all stars it’s hard to reward our talent. Graham has the potential, when used correctly, to be a star as a tight end himself, and Scheffler broke out over the second half of last year when Cutler took the reigns. Combined our tight end production should be much improved over the majority of last year.

4. Oakland Raiders
Most Valuable Player: Courtney Anderson. Sidekick: Tony Stewart
Didn’t recognize either of these names – and you shouldn’t either. The Raiders’ right ends belong near the bottom of the league, just like the entire team.

Wide Receivers

1. Denver Broncos
Most Valuable Player: Javon Walker. Sidekick: Brandon Marshall
Only one team has a wide receiver set worth much, and that’s our beloved Broncos. The Raiders’ trading away Randy Moss leaves the door open for us to take the top spot. Javon Walker was either red hot or steady last year from game to game – as he grasps more of the Broncos offense, look for him to be more consistently on fire. Add in Brandon Marshall, Brandon Stokley and the possibility of a healthy Rod Smith and Denver runs away with this one.

2. Oakland Raiders
Most Valuable Player: Jerry Porter. Sidekick: Mike Williams
So the Raiders traded away Randy Moss – but then they traded for recent 1st Round pick Mike Williams. Mike Williams hasn’t shown a lot as of yet, but reuniting with Head Coach Lane Kiffen, his former USC coach, could prove to be the changing factor in his career. And Jerry Porter might actually buy into this year’s program and return to his 2004-5 level.

3. Kansas City Chiefs
Most Valuable Player: Eddie Kennison. Sidekick: Samie Parker
Kennison took strides last year, and Samie Parker had a play over 20 yards about 20% of his catches – but neither of them strike fear in the hearts of defensive coordinators. They drafted Dwayne Bowe, which will probably turn out well for them, but their receiver corps still needs help.

4. San Diego Chargers
Most Valuable Player: Eric Parker. Sidekick: Vincent Jackson
Six touchdowns was all the Chargers got from their receivers last year, and they’ll have to do better. Craig Davis was a huge reach in the first with Dwayne Jarrett still on the board, as I’ve said many times, so I don’t see the Chargers doing well this year with passing the ball.

Overall

1. Denver Broncos
2. Kansas City Chiefs
3. San Diego Chargers
4. Oakland Raiders

None of the teams have the firepower with offensive weaponry at the receiver position as the Broncos – far and away the best receiver in Walker and the best second tight end, the Broncos should do well in the passing game behind the big arm of Jay Cutler and all the stars fighting for the ball.