AFC West Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs

Broncos

Broncos new OC Pat Shurmur said Thursday that he sees “a lot of similarities” between Daniel Jones and Drew Lock. 

“Last year we were in the quarterback market and typically when you draft a quarterback high, those are organizational decisions,” Shurmur said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Athletic. “At that time last year, what we felt was best for the Giants was Daniel Jones. I will say this: We had a very, very high opinion of Drew Lock and we liked him a great deal. There’s a lot of similarity between the two players. They’re young, talented players that had very good college careers. Their skill sets are very similar; they can throw the ball well, they can move around well. You saw flashes of really good football from both of them last year as they played as rookies, so I’m very, very excited to be able to work with Drew Lock and really all the offensive players.”

• Shurmur also spoke about choosing the Broncos coordinator job over other offers: “I believe in everything that we all know about the Broncos. It’s a winning organization. I believe in John Elway and his staff. I believe in coach (Vic) Fangio and what he’s already started here.”  (Mike Klis)
• Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic writes that while the future is bright for Lock, it’s “incredibly uncertain” for veteran QB Joe Flacco after he ended up on injured reserve midway through last season with a herniated cervical disk.
• Shurmur was asked about Flacco’s futures with the team and said: “I don’t know and I wouldn’t get into that in this setting. Again, I’m just getting to know the players, the ones that were here a year ago and I’m not sure who’s going to be here moving forward… I think he’s had an outstanding career. I thought he did a lot of good things last year. Unfortunately, he was injured and couldn’t finish the season.”
• No surprise here, but Matt Miller says the consensus around the league is that the Broncos will franchise S Justin Simmons in the coming weeks.

Chargers

• League sources have indicated to Matt Miller that the Chargers are likely to draft a quarterback such as Justin Herbert or Tua Tagovailoa in the first round.
• However, Miller says that there’s “enough buzz” regarding a potential Cam Newton trade in recent weeks that the Chargers are at least worth keeping an eye on as a potential landing spot for the former MVP.

Chiefs

• Tom Pelissero reports that the Chiefs and QB Patrick Mahomes will take their time on working out what will likely be a record contract extension this offseason. 
• According to Pelissero, it’s unlikely that the two parties would have a long-term deal in place until after the draft. 
• Matt Miller of B/R says that league insiders expect Chiefs DL Chris Jones to target around $20 million per year in his next contract
• Miller adds that league insiders think Jones may have priced his way out of Kansas City and could be a candidate to be traded to the NFC for a late first-round pick.