AFC West Notes: Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders

Chargers

• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer believes Chargers first-round QB Justin Herbert is the second-most likely rookie passer to start for their team in 2020. Los Angeles does have Tyrod Taylor but he also lost his job after less than a month in a similar situation in Cleveland. 

Chiefs

The stiffest competition on the Chiefs roster right now might be at punter, as undrafted rookie Tommy Townsend and second-year Tyler Newsome compete to replace 15-year-incumbent P Dustin Colquitt, released by Kansas City earlier this offseason. The two have been working out with the Chiefs’ other specialists and sending in videos to ST coordinator Dave Toub, who says the two are locked in a dead heat right now. 

“There is nobody out in front right now. I like them both,” Toub said via Dave Skretta of the Associated Press. “They’ve both got really strong legs, really powerful legs. They consistently hit over 5.0 [seconds] hang times, which is impressive. Tommy is a little more clean in his technique as far as consistency, whereas Tyler is a little more erratic. But the results are the same. They both bomb the ball.”

Raiders

Raiders HC Jon Gruden went into great detail about some members of Las Vegas’ roster during the second part of an interview with Jerry McDonald of The Mercury News.

Gruden expects new linebackers Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski to fill a void in the middle of their defense. 

“We think both those linebackers fill tremendous voids on our defense,” Gruden said. “What we went through here at that position the last several years, it’s not good. It’s just not good. We think Littleton can make all the plays in every situation. We think he can stay on the field and play every single snap in any situation. He’s good in space. He’s good in the box. He’s a high energy guy. He’s young. He’s a complete football player. And having the guy wearing the green dot Nick Kwiatkoski standing next to him. He’s going to be the lead singer now. He’s the leader of the band. He’s going to get a chance to make all the calls, all the checks all the adjustments, a lot of the communication to free everybody up, is another reason to be excited.”

McDonald noted that the Raiders seem to be a second chance team for some players, including those who went undrafted or were cut by their original team such as Littleton, WR Tyrell Williams, RT Trent Brown, and DE Carl Nassib.

“Alec Ingold wasn’t drafted, he was our fullback,” Gruden said. “We got some guy from Eastern Michigan (Maxx Crosby), he walks in here and becomes our go-to pass rusher. So yeah, we don’t discriminate against anybody. We don’t care if you’re a first-rounder or a fourth-rounder, an undrafted free agent. We never really cared if you were 36 or 26. We just like guys that love football, that will compete relentlessly and guys that can perform.”

Gruden also spoke about the intelligence of RB Lynn Bowden and couldn’t stop himself from mentioning his favoritism for draft pick Amik Robertson.

“I hate to come out and say he’s my favorite guy, but selfishly, deep down, somewhere inside of me, I wanted that guy bad. I just love what he’s about. He’s got a lot of Ronde Barber traits. He’s a different dude on game day. He’s not little, he’s just short. He’s just not tall. He’s a powerful guy, he’s got great quickness, he’s got incredible recognition and he’s a good tackler.”