AFC West Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos LB Todd Davis (calf) said he is on track to play in Week 2’s game against the Bears.

“That’s my goal. I know the coaching staff has their plan for me and to make sure I’m healthy and ready to go,” said Davis, via Troy Renck. 

Chargers

While the Chargers will be without star safety Derwin James until potentially December, there’s a reason for the team to be optimistic James won’t miss a beat once he returns. Jones had a pair of procedures following a fractured foot, which ESPN injury analyst Stephania Bell says is good news. 

“Knowing that he had this second procedure following a Jones fracture, I think his prognosis is excellent,” Bell said via ESPN’s Eric Williams. “It’s a more robust procedure. It’s more involved, which is why the recovery takes longer. But the return to activity rates are excellent, the return to play. There really are virtually no complications. When you talk about surgery and recovery, you don’t want to speak in absolutes, but there’s virtually zero refracture rates after these. It just hasn’t happened, so he should be in good shape.”

Chiefs

• According to Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor, Chiefs OT Eric Fisher‘s restructure converted his $9.54 million base salary to a fully-guaranteed roster bonus which will be prorated from 2019 to 2021.
• It also drops Fisher’s cap hit in 2019 from $13.6 million to $6.4 million.
• The Chiefs restructure of LB Anthony Hitchens deal converted $5.6 million of his base salary into a fully-guaranteed roster bonus prorated from 2019 to 2022 and created about $4.2 million in cap room.
• Paylor says the Chiefs can use that cap space to make a move at the trade deadline, extend DL Chris Jones, bank it for QB Patrick Mahomes‘ extension next year or a combination of the three. 

Raiders

Regarding Raiders’ first-round S Johnathan Abram‘s shoulder injury, HC Jon Gruden said the team is comfortable going forward with the current safeties they have on their roster.

“Fortunately, we had some veterans there. Erik Harris, Karl Joseph, (Curtis) Riley started 16 games for the Giants and played well for us, so we’ll go with those guys and perhaps (Dallin) Leavitt will get his shot,” said Gruden, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic. 

Gruden feels that Abram has been “everything that’s advertised” and is still a “big part” of the Raiders’ future. 

“It’s a big blow to our team,” Gruden said. “It’s a big loss, no question. … We’ll treat this as a redshirt year for him. He made some big plays that helped win a football game, and he’s a big part of our future. He’s everything that’s advertised. He’d probably play this week if we’d let him.”