AFC West Quarterback Rankings
Year after year, the AFC West is becoming more and more of a one team affair, with the Kansas City Chiefs winning eight straight division titles.
The Chiefs were winning AFC Wests before their dynasty era began but have since gotten a further stranglehold on the division.
There is no doubt that their quarterback Patrick Mahomes is number one on this list, but who ranks in the other spots? Here is a ranking of AFC West quarterbacks from four to on.
Purely by way of never having thrown an NFL pass in the regular season, Nix is an easy four on the list.
Just like with CJ Stroud in our AFC South piece, it could take just one rookie season for Nix to bump up the list in twelve months’ time. However, it is hard to gauge a real rating for the Broncos QB1, who beat out Jarett Stidham and Zach Wilson for the role.
Minshew is easily one of the most popular quarterbacks in the NFL, with an infectious personality, but he has failed to nail a true starting role in the league since he was taken 178th overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2019.
For a sixth-round pick, he has done extremely well to carve out 37 starts in five seasons and have 64 total touchdowns to just 24 interceptions.
He started off well with the Jaguars but poor form led to him eventually being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. Just four starts in two seasons saw him depart via Free Agency to the Indianapolis Colts.
Presumed to start behind 2023 first rounder Anthony Richardson, Minshew was thrust into the starting spot after the former Florida Gator suffered an early season ending injury.
He came very close to taking the Colts to a playoff berth, as they won six of their final nine games and were involved in a “Win and you’re in” game against the Houston Texans. Unfortunately for him and the Colts, they could not get the win that would have given Minshew his first playoff game as the starting QB.
He joined the Las Vegas Raiders in this year’s offseason and has the chance under head coach Antonio Pierce to become the QB of the next four to five years. With a supporting cast featuring Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers, then he has the chance to show the league what he can do.
However, it is hard to deny he has limitations that fail to put him any higher than third in this division’s QB rankings.
Herbert has shown the entire NFL league what he can do since being taken sixth overall in 2020, and the stats don’t lie. In four seasons, he has thrown for 17,223 yards, 114 touchdowns and 42 interceptions.
However, despite a fantastic arm talent, two things have got in his way. Firstly, bad coaching. Being drafted by Anthony Lynn and then having Brandon Staley as his replacement is not the best of fortunes to have as a quarterback.
Secondly, Herbert has also failed to win the big one. Of course, the aforementioned poor coaching has probably played a big part in this, most notably the collapse against the Jaguars in the Wildcard Round two postseasons ago. He has failed to dethrone the Chiefs, which many Chargers fans hope he can do, and has failed to get over this narrative that he can’t win the important games.
However, he now has a very competent head coach in Jim Harbaugh, who took the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl over a decade ago. He wants to go with a run first offense, which has the potential to limit Herbert’s production in 2024, especially with the departures of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason.
We all know Herbert’s talent, but he has been in a poor coaching situation since the moment he was drafted in the lockdown NFL draft from Roger Goodell’s basement. He will hope that Harbaugh is the guy to turn it round and finally end that narrative.
The easiest of choices.
Whilst Herbert has been criticised for a lack of wins in big spots, Mahomes has been the opposite. He now has three Super Bowls, along with two MVP awards and two Super Bowl MVP’s. With 28,424 career passing yards, 219 touchdowns and 63 interceptions, he is arguably a top three quarterback of all time already and has only been in the league seven seasons, six as a starter.
In those six years as a starter, he has reached four Super Bowls and in those other two years, he lost in the AFC Championship game. With 15 playoff wins and only three losses, he is already third all time for QB playoff wins and is just one behind Joe Montana.
If he wins another Super Bowl this season, not only would he and the Chiefs be the first to do a three-peat, but he would surely become the second-best QB of all-time behind Tom Brady.
Mahomes probably showcased his arm talent more in his first two years as a starter, he has become a lot more methodical in his approach, picking and choosing when he brings out the big plays, something that has helped him win back-to-back Super Bowls, and doing all of that after losing his best wide receiver in Tyreek Hill.
The NFL world is witnessing greatness, just when the non-Patriots fans thought they were going to have a few years without a quarterback tormenting the rest of the league.