KC Chiefs force AFC West teams to address offense in first round
The first round of the 2020 NFL Draft is in the books and the other three teams in the AFC West combined for five picks in round one. three of those five picks were on offense, proving that they’re trying to keep up with the KC Chiefs.
At this point, the rest of the AFC West aren’t stupid. They know that in order to contend with the Kansas City Chiefs for the foreseeable future, they’ll need to be able to score points and a lot of them at that. So, it makes sense that the first three AFC West selections in the first round were on the offensive side of the ball.
First up were the Los Angeles Chargers at the sixth overall draft choice and they decided to address the most important position in the game. Justin Herbert became the first quarterback the Chargers selected in round one since they took Eli Manning in 2004 (yes you read that right) before ending up with Philip Rivers instead.
Herbert had a nice career at Oregon, but he likely won’t be the starter right out of the gate. Tyrod Taylor probably starts for the first month or so of the season and then Herbert gets the keys to the car and potentially becomes the Chargers’ franchise signal caller.
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Next up were the Las Vegas Raiders at pick number six and the first ever player drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders was Henry Ruggs III out of Alabama. The Chiefs had been rumored to be interested in a trade up for Ruggs, so of course the easy joke here is that the Raiders didn’t want Andy Reid to have him and took him instead.
Ruggs is an explosive receiver, but he was probably the third best receiver on the board at this point. It was a very Raiders pick, as Ruggs is good, but maybe not the best fit for Las Vegas.
Speaking of receivers, Denver followed suit with the whole taking an Alabama wide receiver route by selecting Jerry Jeudy at pick number 15. Jeudy was arguably the best receiver in the draft and now he’ll be in Denver trying to keep up with the Chiefs. Sorry, Jerry.
The Raiders picked again at pick number 19 courtesy of their trade with the Bears a few years ago. Las Vegas shook it up by finally taking a defensive player with it being Damon Arnette out of Ohio State. Arnette is a good player, but this felt like a huge reach by the Raiders.
Finally, in a bit of a surprising move, the Chargers traded back into the first round and grabbed Kenneth Murray at pick 23. They went defense with that pick, which was smart after spending their top ten pick on a quarterback who might not step in right away.
It’s no secret that the Kansas City Chiefs have the best offense in the AFC West and the other three teams showed that they’re now dedicated to trying to keep up with the Chiefs offense in 2020 and beyond.
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Will this pan out for them in the long run? We shall see.