AFC West Breakout Candidates
With a lot of these blogs going around, I figured I’d wet the beak a little and give my predictions on this years rising stars.
Mike Williams – He’s the favorite for most people because of absence of Hunter Henry this year and his injury last year, which held him out of 6 games. My reasoning is more because of Keenan Allen’s injury history. The loss of Henry doesn’t move Williams up on the WR depth chart, where he still sits behind Allen, Tyrell Williams, and Travis Benjamin, but I’d imagine that at least one of them goes down knowing the teams luck. He has outrageous length, and put it on display last Saturday.
Bradley Chubb – Call it overzealous, but I think he has the chance to get a 10-14 sack season in their defense. If Wolfe and Peko stay healthy, then the Miller/Chubb combo could prove to be a Miller/Ware-esque combo in terms of getting to the quarterback. He was exceptional vs. the run in college as well, and seemed to have good instincts dropping back in coverage. He is insanely fast for his size, as you can see from this safety vs the Bears.
Gareon Conley – The Raiders haven’t had a top-flight CB in a long time, and there’s hype that Conley might be the one to break that dry spell. He was injury plagued/sat most of last season and was battling some very serious criminal allegations, but I think he has the skill set to be the anchor of that secondary alongside Karl Joseph. The unit on a whole is pretty weak, however, with journeymen Marcus Gilchrist and Rashaan Melvin set up to be starters alongside that duo.
Patrick Mahomes II – The biggest question mark in this prediction is the Chief’s offensive line.They’ve all proven to be very average at best with the exception of Mitchell Schwartz, who is one of the better Right Tackles in football. Mahomes is only 22, but he’s proven he has the ability to be efficient based off his play from last year. He has all the weapons a young quarterback could ask for in Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Travis Kelce, and Kareem Hunt, who represent one of the fastest units in the league. Andy Reid has also shown he can develop a young quarterback with a cannon for an arm and solid speed (See Donovan McNabb).
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