AFC West Q&A
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AFC West Q&A: Who will win the division? By STAFF ESPN July 14, 2018 Can the Chiefs defend their title or is this the year the Chargers finish back on top? Our roundtable takes a look at who will be crowned champion in the AFC West and who will make the playoffs out of the division. Jeff Legwold, Denver Broncos reporter: At first blush, the Chiefs appear well-stocked on offense but may not get a chance to show their full power if a thin defense isn't up to the challenge. Meanwhile, the Raiders may need more time to build the roster under Jon Gruden and the Broncos are digging out from a 5-11 crater. The Chargers likely will open training camp as the division's most complete team. If quarterback Philip Rivers does his usual Philip Rivers things and the team's defense performs at least to last season's level (No. 3 in scoring defense and tied for No. 5 in sacks), they are poised for their first division title since 2009. The Broncos still have the guts of a championship defense with the likes of Von Miller and Chris Harris Jr. as well as newcomer Bradley Chubb. If quarterback Case Keenum -- along with a rookie infusion at wide receiver (Courtland Sutton and Daesean Hamilton) combined with former Pro Bowl selections Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders -- can get the Broncos offense back into the league's top 10 in scoring, Denver can be the second playoff team from the division. If the Broncos' offense looks too much like 2017, then it's the Chiefs as the second team. Eric Williams, Los Angeles Chargers reporter: The Chargers have not made the playoffs since 2013 or won the division since 2009, but they are the trendy pick to win the AFC West this year. Behind a stingy defense and prolific offense, the Bolts prove the prognosticators correct and take the division. With Alex Smith now plying his trade with the Washington Redskins, the Chiefs likely will take a step back. However, Kansas City has too much talent on offense and should be improved enough defensively to sneak in as an AFC wild card. The Raiders and Broncos are in the midst of rebuilding or retooling projects and will struggle to finish at the .500 mark this season. Adam Teicher, Kansas City Chiefs reporter: Despite the arrivals of Jon Gruden in Oakland and Case Keenum in Denver, the AFC West again will be a two-team race between the Chiefs and Chargers. I have reservations about both teams. Kansas City is going through a season of change, though it's not a rebuild. The Chiefs have enough offensive talent around new quarterback Patrick Mahomes to score plenty of points. But they'll need a ton of scoring to overcome what should again be a shaky defense. The Chargers aren't as solid as they looked toward the end of last season, when they won nine of 12 games but beat just one eventual playoff team. Their 17-point December loss to the Chiefs in effect decided the division race and kept the Chargers out of the playoffs. Still, the Chargers have a more balanced roster, so I'll take them to go 10-6 and end Kansas City's two-year run of division titles. The Chiefs will go 9-7 and reach the postseason as a wild-card entrant. Paul Gutierrez, Oakland Raiders reporter: Consistency is key here. The Broncos and Chiefs are breaking in new quarterbacks while the Raiders have a new/old face at coach in Jon Gruden. The Chargers? They have a potential Hall of Fame QB in Philip Rivers, who only seems to be getting better with age, the top-ranked passing game in the NFL, an upgraded O-line with free-agent center Mike Pouncey and the division's best one-two pass-rushing punch in Joey Bosa (23.0 combined sacks the past two seasons) and Melvin Ingram (18.5 combined sacks). And oh, yeah, the Chargers won nine of their last 12 games, including six of their last seven. An 0-4 start last season had the Bolts looking more like Dolts and slow starts have doomed the Chargers of late. Only one of the Chargers' first four games is against an AFC West foe this season. The Chiefs promise to have an offense as explosive as the Broncos' defense can be dominant, while the Raiders will be an interesting case study in an old-school coach trying to connect with today's high-tech game with young talent on the roster and grizzled vets on prove-it contracts. A certain, shall we say, cannibalism in the AFC West could make getting more than one team into the playoffs a reach. Best nickname in every NFL locker room: Origins of 'Beast Mode,' more By STAFF ESPN July 14, 2018 Marshawn Lynch has turned his on-field nickname -- "Beast Mode" -- into an off-field brand. Who else has marketable monikers? NFL Nation reporters highlight the best nickname in every locker room and their origin stories. NFC EAST Dallas Cowboys Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence: "Tank" Lawrence, who finished last season with the second-most sacks (14.5) in the league, got his nickname while wrestling with his older brother's friend as a young child. "He DDT's me and he's like, 'Oh, I tanked him.' So he just started calling me 'Tank' and everybody in the hood just started calling me 'Tank' and as I was growing up it just carried with football," Lawrence said. "Now I do the tanking." -- Todd Archer New York Giants Running back Saquon Barkley: "SaQuads" It's really a tie between Barkley and Damon "Snacks" Harrison. "SaQuads" was given to Barkley by new teammate Odell Beckham Jr. after seeing the size of the rookie's legs. It has started to spread, even if Barkley is hoping it fades. "Hopefully I can get a different nickname for what I do on the field, not my legs," he said. Snacks' nickname is what it seems. It was created by former Jets defensive line coach Karl Dunbar because Harrison was always snacking in the meeting rooms. Read more about "SaQuads." -- Jordan Raanan Philadelphia Eagles Safety Stephen Roberts: "Skinny Pimp" Teammates and coaches alike call the rookie by his nickname. A coach gave Roberts -- who is 5-foot-11 and 186 pounds -- the name at Auburn because of his build. Roberts made it his Instagram handle, and it spread like wildfire from there. -- Tim McManus Washington Redskins Tackle Trent Williams: "Silverback" The Pro Bowler's nickname was given to him by teammates at Oklahoma. "I'm always saying how I want to be a beast on the field, and Silverback is a beast, so they just kind of gave me the nickname," Williams said. He has a Silverback gorilla tattooed on his back, once paid $150,000 for a Silverback gorilla chain and has a painting in his basement of him blocking, yes, a Silverback gorilla. Williams was once asked on the radio by former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson about the racial overtones of his nickname. "I understand," Williams told him. "But I just feel like this day and age, we're trying to move past that." -- John Keim NFC NORTH Chicago Bears Wide receiver Taylor Gabriel: "Turbo" The Bears gave the veteran his nickname because of his elite speed. Gabriel has proven he can be a home- run hitter on offense. In Atlanta, Gabriel averaged 16.5 yards per reception during the 2016 season. "With a name like Turbo, you got to be fast," Bears all-purpose threat Tarik Cohen, another speedster, joked with reporters at mandatory minicamp. "They clocked Turbo running like 24 miles per hour the other day." -- Jeff Dickerson Detroit Lions Returner Jamal Agnew: "Swagnew" Agnew earned the name in the defensive backs room at the University of San Diego, when he said Devyn Bryant told him he had "the most swagger on the field and my last name, it comes with it." Agnew loved the nickname -- it was part of his Twitter presence for a bit -- but admitted that it has since gotten old. His family would start screaming it during games and "now my dad uses it." And that turned what was a cool, swaggy nickname into the equivalent of a dad joke. So he let his dad have the nickname recently and he's moved on. Even so, college friends, fans and even some current teammates continue to call him "Swagnew" because, well, it just fits. -- Michael Rothstein Green Bay Packers Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix: "Ha Ha" Believe it or not, Ha Ha is not actually his first name. It's Ha'Sean. But his grandmother gave him the nickname "Ha Ha" when he was 3 years old because of his penchant for giggling. Plus, Clinton-Dix likes that better than people mispronouncing his given name. It's pronounced "Ha-Seen" and not "Ha-Shawn." For short, many teammates and coaches have taken to call him simply "Ha." -- Rob Demovsky Minnesota Vikings Cornerback Xavier Rhodes: "Rhodes Closed" After shadowing and shutting down dozens of the league's top receivers over the past few seasons, Rhodes' last name has become the play on words for his play on the field. It reflects the danger of quarterbacks throwing into the elite corner's direction. The nickname really began to take off in 2016 when Rhodes allowed the lowest percentage of passes (48 percent) caught among all cornerbacks and earned even more notoriety when he rendered the likes of Michael Evans, Julio Jones and Antonio Brown ineffective last season.