Here are my Draft Grades for the AFC West

The 2014 NFL Draft is in the books so with it fresh in my mind here are the grades for the AFC West. Last season this division saw three teams make the playoffs with one making it to the Super Bowl. With that in mind let’s take a look at how these four teams did in the 2014 NFL Draft.

  Oakland Raiders

This has to be the best draft from the Raiders in a long time. When you go 4-12 in a season your team needs a ton of help and I have to say with eight picks Oakland did pretty good. With their first four picks they took a LB, QB, OG and a DT. Then with their last four picks it was all about defense. When you look at the other three teams in the west playing defense is the only way Oakland is going to stay in games.

Oakland is in full rebuild mode and will not knock off the Broncos at the top of the division any time soon but they did stock up the shelves this year and I will give them a ‘B+’ for this years draft.

San Diego Chargers

The Chargers did make the playoffs last season but they were a little off Denver’s pace so they went with defense. The Chargers had just six picks in this year’s draft and took a DB and an OLB with their first two picks. That makes good sense when you have to play the top offense twice each season.
San Diego also added at DT, OL, RB and WR to the mix. These are depth players that the Chargers hope to have some contribution from this year. Did they close the gap against Denver? We will have to wait and see about that but I would give them a ‘B’ for this year’s draft.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs had a great first season under Andy Reid but fell flat on their face in the playoffs. Kansas City had just six picks in this year’s draft and they went defense with their first two picks taking a LB and DB. That makes sense when you have to deal with Denver twice a season but the Chiefs couldn’t stop anybody late in the season, which lead to their first round exit from the playoffs.

Kansas City’s first pick Dee Ford is a good looking player with a ton of up side but you never really know until they start playing. Right now I would give them a ‘B-‘ for their draft. The one thing I didn’t see them pick up was WR and they could use at least one more pair of hands. Playing defense is a must but they will need to score some points if they want to take the top-spot away from Denver.

Denver Broncos

Denver had a great season setting a new offensive record for scoring and made it to the Super Bowl. Yes, they did get killed in the big game but there are 30 other teams would have loved to be in that game and didn’t get close. That being said I think we all know that the big deal for Denver was defense.

The Broncos took just six picks in the draft and I think did a good job of addressing needs. Of the six picks they took four defensive guys and the other two picks were a WR and an OG which they needed. Denver was very active in free agency and did a good job of stocking the shelves on the defensive side of the ball, which should make them a better team this year.

With drafting 31st in each round and their low number of picks I would give the Denver Broncos a ‘B+’ for the 2014 NFL draft. They did add much needed depth on defense and added two offensive players to help Manning.