Chargers have the 8th most talented roster according to PFF

[Rugger05]

6. Oakland Raiders

Biggest strength: Khalil Mack has developed into the best edge rusher in the league. He led all players with 96 total pressures last season and trailed only Von Miller in defensive stops among edge rushers (44).

Biggest weakness: The Raiders had one of the league's best offensive lines last season, but right tackle was a constant issue. Marshall Newhouse is slated to start there in 2017. His highest career PFF grade: 69.4.

By the numbers: Derek Carr was the least-pressured quarterback in the league last season (23.9 percent of his dropbacks). Left tackle Donald Penn allowed just one sack all season, but it was the one that resulted in Carr's injury in Week 16, effectively ending the team's Super Bowl aspirations.




8. Los Angeles Chargers


Biggest strength: Rookie Joey Bosa hit the ground running and become one of the game's most dominant defensive linemen, picking up where he left off in college. He notched 59 total pressures in 12 games, the most any player has recorded in his first dozen NFL games over the past decade.

Biggest weakness: The Chargers' Achilles' heel for years has been the offensive line, and it remains a weak spot, even with potential reinforcements from the draft and free agency. Only Matt Slauson graded higher than 74 last season among the players slated to start in 2017.

By the numbers: Casey Hayward, who played mainly in the slot with Green Bay before joining San Diego, became the Chargers' No. 1 corner early in the 2016 season after top cover man Jason Verrett got injured. Hayward allowed just one touchdown all season and a passer rating of 53.4 when targeted.

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9. Kansas City Chiefs


Biggest strength: Justin Houston is an elite edge rusher when healthy, but he has played just 16 regular-season games over the past two seasons. While he played just 349 total snaps in 2017, Houston still managed a three-sack, nine-pressure game against Denver after getting back on the field.

Biggest weakness: With the release of Jeremy Maclin, the Chiefs have no true outside threat at receiver and will be leaning heavily on Tyreek Hill's development as a passing weapon. Albert Wilson and Chris Conley gained just 0.96 yards per route run in 2016.

By the numbers: Cornerback Marcus Peters has the league's highest playmaker index, either breaking up a pass or intercepting it on 19.5 percent of targets. He was targeted 60 fewer times in 2016 than he was as a rookie.


25. Denver Broncos


Biggest strength: Outside linebacker Von Miller had 79 total pressures and led all edge rushers with 53 defensive stops last season.

Biggest weakness: Donald Stephenson was one of the worst starting tackles in the league in 2016. He's expected to remain a starter this season, moving from right tackle to the left side. Stephenson surrendered 50 pressures and committed 12 penalties in 744 snaps.

By the numbers: Cornerback Aqib Talib didn't allow a single touchdown and gave up a passer rating of just 49.5 when targeted in 2016, the second-best figure in the league. With a 92.9 grade, his teammate Chris Harris Jr. was the best-graded corner overall.

[Formula 21]

Liuget and Attaochu. A #1 and a #2. Pathetic. Supposed to be cornerstones of the D by now.

[Panamamike]

First....attaucho was not and is not a DL. 2nd it is a new season and scheme. Clean slate. I for one think that IF attaucho can stay healthy he could flourish in the Bruce Irvin role for us. Time will tell.

[Steve]

Don't get hung up on labels. When Charles Haley played in this scheme for SF (back in their glory days) LEO was called ELEPHANT,was considered a OLB. Now Attaochu is going to play the same position (LEO),but it hasn't changed. He is still a pass rushing LB which is the same thing as a DE. Looks lke a duck, quacks like a duck. Call it whatever you like.

It is a little early to call him a starter. He will back up Ingram and be one of our edge rushers in some packages.

As far as who starts at the 3rd LB spot, does it really matter? Back in the day, all 11 starters played, so it was important. Now King will probably be the nickle DB, ply 60-80 of our snaps and keep Emmanuel off the field. If Emmanuel, Attaochu, Perry or Toomer can step up, then we can shuffle the spots to get the best 11 on the field.

Liuget is the real key to our D. If he can finally develop into a real 3 technique, then we can get consistent pressure on QB's. If not, I think his time in LA i limited.

[Panamamike]

Don't get hung up on labels. When Charles Haley played in this scheme for SF (back in their glory days) LEO was called ELEPHANT,was considered a OLB. Now Attaochu is going to play the same position (LEO),but it hasn't changed. He is still a pass rushing LB which is the same thing as a DE. Looks lke a duck, quacks like a duck. Call it whatever you like.

It is a little early to call him a starter. He will back up Ingram and be one of our edge rushers in some packages.

As far as who starts at the 3rd LB spot, does it really matter? Back in the day, all 11 starters played, so it was important. Now King will probably be the nickle DB, ply 60-80 of our snaps and keep Emmanuel off the field. If Emmanuel, Attaochu, Perry or Toomer can step up, then we can shuffle the spots to get the best 11 on the field.

Liuget is the real key to our D. If he can finally develop into a real 3 technique, then we can get consistent pressure on QB's. If not, I think his time in LA i limited.

I think Attaouchu will play the situational extra pass rusher like Irvin did. Minimize his snaps and try to maximize his impact. The graphic was poorly presented. It shows a 3-4 alignment with Bosa and Ingram at LB and Attaouchu at DE.

[Steve]

This sort of thing happens every year when a team switches scheme. People get confused as to where people will play. There was a lot of debate among all of us, and I consider us well above average in terms of scheme fit than the typical sportswriter. It all got settled once Gus assigned everything.

Some of the move of Attaochu to LEO may have also been that Ingram had the franchise tag. It worked out well, but there have been several cases with both the team and players seemingly ready to get a deal done and then it gets messy and before you know it the guy is holding out or worse. If Ingram had not been available, someone would have had to fill in, and Attaochu is the 2nd best fit at LEO, although Emmanuel could be there too.

To me, the interesting thing for any 34 team is how they take their glut of 34 rush LB and what they do with them. Who will be in the mix at LB, and who will be in the mix as DE.

Ourlads is also still listing us as a 34 team, which kinda makes sense. The LEO is really a 34 OLB who is a dedicated rush guy. The other OLB is asked to be a player who does a bit of everything, but Atlanta used Vic Beasley as a rush guy mostly, even though he lined up at SAM LB in the base D, he was an edge rusher most of the time. If someone else can show anything as a backup LEO, and Attaochu can show much, then moving him to SAM could happen.

[blueman]

So if we have the 8th best roster, does that mean playoffs are a reasonable expectation?

[Big Dog]

Yes.

[Steve]

I think if you compare those roster, you have to think we can potentially win the division. I wouldn't recommend betting everything I own on it, but I did put $20 on it when I was in Vegas a while back.

None of the team in the AFC West is going to look like the listings from PFF when the season progresses. Young players will develop, and some weaker players will bounce back from poor seasons. Some of the good players will be hurt, or have bad seasons. Some of the weaknesses, like Denver DL, Oaklands weak front 7, are probably going to be an albatross hanging around those teams necks.

No team in the NFL has a perfect roster. We need some help, and a couple positions need to play a lot better, but we have a chance, especially if a couple of spots play a lot better.

Every year, with all the turnover due to FA and retirements and such, some teams go from worst to first. It could be us. We need some guys to step up. Someone has to do a better job of playing DT. Mebane is fine, but someone has to play better next to him at 3-tech DT. The right side of our OL has to do better. IF that happens though, we could have a very, very good team.

The big thing I like is the changes Lynn has brought. New training with an emphasis on strengthening small muscles to reduce injury. He is also pretty no nonsense in terms of making plays be accountable. He is not necessarily dressing guys down publicly, but he doesn't seem to shy away from calling some out and point out their weaknesses.

[Fleet]

I feel like we are in a mini window here with this roster. Rivers has a few great years in him still imo. I have a 3 year window i keep messing with in my head. Especially looking forward after this season with only Franklin still on the books and Inman/Slauson as UFAs. Maybe a case for Toomer as well. But we are looking good going into next year cap wise and have drafted forward by taking next years UFA replacements this year in Williams, Lamp/Feeney.

With guys like Benjamin, Liuget, and Barksdale droppable with minimal dead money impact we are going to be able to get our DBs under contract long term. At least if Verrett stays healthy. He really needs to prove he can stay healthy. At any rate we should be able to get guys under contract and even bring in a name or 2. We are in a really good position with talent and cap space over the next few years. And one non roster player on the books.

Might even be able to get that QB of the future in round 2 next year as i expect the class to be very deep. And with the development of our already young talent continue to add to the roster without selling our future #1's for a QB at the top of the draft.

Its very late in Rivers career....but i feel he has a little window now. If The OL plays like it has the potential too...this offense will excite a lot of fans. Hopefully new fans. This is a powerful offense if this OL plays like they should.

Rivers
Gates
Henry
Gordon
Allen
M Williams
Ty Williams
Inman
Benjamin

Thats ridiculous to me.

[Heatmiser]

If Hayward continues to shine, he will need to get paid, too. I am really surprised he hasn't raised a fuss already. Must be a really good guy.

TG

[Concudan]

Well the window is not closed, but is closing. That said, Elway did not get rings until the end of his career....