The AFC West Arms Race
Is this what the 60’s felt like but in football terms? What is happening in the AFC West right now?
The Chiefs are the Chiefs. They’ve owned the division for the past half-decade. They haven’t made any huge moves. They probably can’t. If anything they’ve lost some pieces. It appears as though the other 3 teams have decided to go all-in and meet them at the top.
The Broncos are the biggest splash, a mediocre team with one massive hole: QB. So what do they do? They trade for Russell Wilson. A massive upgrade. Not only that, they lure Randy Gregory out of Dallas. They also claimed DJ Jones from the 49ers. The Broncos might not be quite Chiefs level yet, but the potential is there and suddenly the bum of the division is now a genuine contender.
The Chargers were inches from the playoffs. They already have their franchise guy under center. They needed some pieces on defense. So what do they do? They trade peanuts to Chicago for Khalil Mack. Now they have an ace defender across from Joey Bosa. For good measure, they also nabbed JC Jackson from the Pats to help with the secondary.
The Raiders already made the playoffs last season. They actually looked like they were headed for a rebuild. Carr was rumored to be on the trading block. They replaced their coach and GM. My original draft of this comic was the other 3 teams posturing at each other while a wimpy Carr shuddered underneath them. But then the Raiders went and nabbed Chandler Jones out of Arizona and today engineered a massive trade for Packers stud WR Davante Adams. They are also going in hard. Nobody wants to wait.
This is going to be a bloodbath. The entire division might make the playoffs. It’s fun to look at these teams and compare them to some of the crappier divisions. Derek Carr is easily the 4th best QB here, yet if you move him to the AFCS, he has an argument for the best, especially once Watson finally picks a new team because the best the Colts will get is Jimmy or Baker. The AFC is unbelievably stacked right now and the majority of that power is concentrated in this one division. The other main power is the Bills, who added Von Miller. Jesus Christ. We will have to wait to see if the Bengals keep it up. What’s the NFC got? The Rams. Anyone else? The Packers maybe, Rodgers just lost his #1 weapon. The 49ers? Trey Lance is a huge question. Tampa? Still fairly stacked but getting old.
The Chiefs still seem like the obvious favorite here. The Chargers love to Chargers, the Raiders are flawed bums run by Josh McDaniels, and Denver is unproven with no certainty that Russ will save them. But damn. This looks like so much fun right now. Also merry first “Russ in a broncos jersey” drawing.
EDIT: The Chiefs just signed JuJu, good lord
I’ll tackle the dreaded Watson news next week
Derek Car is quickly growing on me.
A shame he was never portrayed this way in the comic until last season…
Well, never too late, right?
Jon Bois put it perfectly; Derek Carr is by far the best QB to ever be the worst QB in his division. Shit’s gonna be a bloodbath out west.
“Is this what the 60’s felt like but in football terms?”
I feel very out of the loop, what is this referencing? Arms race between US and Soviets? I can’t think of anything else.
What does Chandler Jones see in the last panel? Is it the “Go Boncs!” sign in Russ’s locker? XD
Is Kermit Mahomes… wearing a number 15 in Broncos font?
Bills need another corner, maybe another guard. Other than that, I’m feeling pretty good.
The arms race out in the west has been really impressive to watch. Almost like teams out there know what they’re doing.
*laughs in WFT*
Russ needs more Jesus tchotchkes in his locker.
The Russ locker picture is perfect!
Browns traded for Watson. I hate everything about it. I hope they get embarrassed non-stop. I hope Houston takes the picks and turns into a super team. I hope Baker takes the Colts or whoever into the promised land. I’m done with this team until the rapist is gone.
It’s Houston, they’ll find a way to fuck it up somehow.
Same here.
I’ve been giving Steelers fans crap about Big Ben for years, and now the Browns sign someone accused of TEN TIMES the number of assaults.
And guarantee him more money than anybody ever. Hope the civil suits take it all….
I’m rooting for the Lions and Bills until he’s gone. I spent the last 20 years saying I wouldn’t root for a rapist QB, and now the Browns gave me the opportunity to prove it. I hope he gets slammed in court. Browns deserve everything bad that happens to them. It’s appalling
The Raiders looked like they came right out of Eyeshield 21.
So the Browns picks up DeShaun Watson.
I think people are underrating the Adams trade to LV. That collegiate connection with Carr has the potential to be Alin to what we saw with Burrow and Chase this year. McDaniels is no slouch in offensive play calling neither. If they improve their D somewhat, they have the potential to go beyond a first round exit.
We could also see every AFCW team go 3-3 in their division. Wild.
As a rival of the Raiders, I don’t mind the Adams trade at all. The Raiders paid a 1st and a 2nd for the privilege of paying an age 29 receiver north of $28M/year for the foreseeable future.
I mean, granted, the guy is good, but remember when they acquired Randy Moss? They didn’t really get the kind of usage out of him you might expect. Although I’ll acknowledge it sounds like Randy didn’t really want to be there, and the same can’t be said for Adams, the way he’s been talking.
I think in a general sense, trading for a WR almost never works out. I think Stefon Diggs is the only one I can think of that actually panned out well.
Three first round picks for a serial rapist. If we didn’t already know the NFL was morally bankrupt, we have no doubts, now.
Well this aged horribly