AFC West Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs

Broncos

Von Miller offered some praise for a few teammates including new RT Ja’Wuan James. 

“He’s the best right tackle I’ve had to go against (in practice) throughout my whole career here and I said that last year with Jared Veldheer and we got even better this year with Ja’Wuan James so I get to spar, get better and sharpen the sword every day with him and (left tackle) Garett Bolles,” Miller said. “It’s going to be a great year for the offense and defense.”

Miller also highlighted first-round TE Noah Fant and second-round QB Drew Lock as draft picks who have stood out up to this point. 

“(Tight end) Noah Fant has looked pretty good and (quarterback) Drew Lock has looked pretty good, too,” Miller said. “You can see the talent from those guys. And they haven’t done anything yet. Just by watching (Fant) do little routes and Drew throwing the deep ball or scrambling around and throw little dink and dunk passes, you can see the talent and why they’ll be really good for us.”

Chargers

• Chargers WR Keenan Allen said in an interview on FS1’s “Undisputed” he would love to see TE Antonio Gates back with the Chargers for another year: “I hope so, man. I already miss Gates in the locker room already at OTAs.” (Chargers Wire)

Chiefs

Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy interviewed for head coaching jobs with the Dolphins, Jets, Bengals and Buccaneers, but ended up staying in Kansas City. There was some thought around the league that the fact HC Andy Reid called plays instead of Bieniemy was a disadvantage during the interview process. 

“Here’s my response about the playcalling: coach Reid has always done it his way, and that’s how historically he’s done it because he’s coach Reid,” Bieniemy said via Vaughn McClure of ESPN. “He has a beautiful mind, and we all work hand-in-hand together. And he gives me the green light to do a number of things. I have input. I do scripts. I get the install. There are a number of things that I do.”

Bieniemy also might have been at a disadvantage because when teams say they want an offensive coach, they often mean a quarterback coach. Bieniemy worked as a running back coach for the Chiefs before being promoted to offensive coordinator following Matt Nagy‘s departure to Chicago. 

“I’ve been an offensive coach my whole entire life,” Bieniemy continued. “People think just because you coach running backs you don’t understand the pass game. Well, when you’ve played the position, and you’re involved in coaching the position, you’ve got to make sure guys understand the entire game plan, meaning you’re very much involved in the pass game. You have to understand protections. You have to understand route concepts. You have to understand how defenses are structured going against you.”

Bienemy is one of only two minority offensive coordinators in the NFL, likely also due to the fact that most minority coaches tend to work with the skill positions, not the quarterbacks. 

“Do we need more [minority] coaches on the offensive side of the ball? Yes. How do we go about doing that?” Bieniemy said. “We have to make sure there’s a plan for guys of helping guys get into that quarterback room and into quality-control positions so those guys can add that knowledge and learn how to deal with the quarterbacks, learn the language and speak it.”