AFC West quarterback rankings: Is it Mahomes and everyone else for 2024?
Patrick Mahomes is obviously the best QB in the AFC West, but let's rank the entire division's quarterbacks ahead of the 2024 NFL Season. Just a short time ago, the AFC West was once thought of as being the best division in football. Now, with only one proven team, it actually may be closer to the worst than the best.
It's really the Kansas City Chiefs and everyone else as we head into the 2024 NFL Season, but two other teams could look to make life a little harder for Kansas City going forward. As we all know, no NFL team is going to sustain any success without a high-end QB. Let's power rank the four QBs in the AFC West ahead of the 2024 NFL Season
AFC West quarterback rankings: Is Mahomes and everyone else for 2024?
4. Gardner Minshew, Las Vegas Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders starting Gardner Minshew is kind of an ode to just how bad their offseason has been. This team is likely starting a brand-new quarterback for the 2024 NFL Season, as Minshew is not a long-term option at all. He's been on several teams since entering the NFL in 2019 and is nothing more than a high-end backup.
The Raiders had likely hoped that second-year QB Aidan O'Connell would have taken a step forward to earn the starting job, but it didn't happen. Vegas is now left starting the 34th-best QB in the NFL, and being that the AFC is absolutely loaded, the Raiders are in for a very brutal year. Not a single person in that facility can seriously believe that Minshew is going to lead them to the playoffs, right?
3. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
You may think it is unfair putting Bo Nix ahead of Gardner Minshew, but one of these passers is a first-round quarterback who ran away with the starting QB job, and the other one is a veteran journeyman who has not been able to stick with the team. Frankly, as I said above, I don't believe the Las Vegas Raiders even wanted to start Minshew.
They likely had hoped that second-year QB Aidan O'Connell took some sort of leap. Well, Bo Nix is starting for the Denver Broncos after beating out Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson this offseason. Nix has the perfect skillset for what Broncos head coach Sean Payton likes to do on offense, so this marriage may actually be around for the long-term.
Many people have bashed the Denver Broncos for taking Bo Nix in the 2024 NFL Draft, but it seems to have worked out thus far.
2. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Justin Herbert is the second-best QB in the AFC West, but really has done nothing special during his first four years in the NFL. He had quite the impressive rookie season, but isn't really know for much more than being big and having a huge arm.
I mean, I understand that wins are not a QB statistic, but Herbert doesn't possess any sort of signature win, and I struggle to see how he is an elite passer. Sure, finally having some stability at head coach with Jim Harbaugh could help things, but his body of work through four years in the NFL is just OK.
The Los Angeles Chargers are definitely in a bit of a roster re-tooling heading into 2024. It's the first year that Harbaugh is coaching the team, and it's also the first year of the Joe Hortiz era, who is the team's new General Manager.
1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Nothing really to debate here, as Patrick Mahomes is the best QB in the AFC West, and it's likely going to stay that way for years to come. He and the Kansas City Chiefs have won three out of the last five Super Bowls and are right in the middle of a dynasty. The scary thing here is that the 2023 NFL Season was clearly the "worst" of the Mahomes/Reid era, and they still did enough to win the whole thing.
The quarterback has won two NFL MVP awards and three Super Bowl MVP awards. With a 15-3 playoff record and a 74-22 regular season record, Mahomes and the Chiefs feel unstoppable.