(upbeat music) ♪ It's the Lockdown Podcast Network ♪ ♪ Your team every day ♪ (upbeat music) - Hey guys, this is Lauren Cox from Lockdown Bears. Football season is finally upon us. And if Aaron Rodgers off-season ayahuasca trips were anything to go by, you know that the fantasy group chats gonna have plenty to go off about this season, enter the offensive line. A brand new podcast from NFL insider, Annie Agar. Annie kicks back with NFL stars and fans lab super fans throughout the season to unpack the week's lines, odds, and spreads with more banter and trash talk than your fantasy group chat. Follow the offensive line on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can access bonus episodes and listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. - The Chiefs have won the AFC West the last eight seasons in a row. Will it switch up in 2024? The 2024 NFL season preview continues right now. This is the 2024 Lockdown NFL season preview only on the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. - Welcome back to the 2024 Lockdown NFL season preview. This episode we are focusing on the AFC West. The episode is brought to you by Fandil. Now through September 22nd, all Fandil customers can bet $5 and get a three week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit Fandil.com/Lockdown to get started and excited to get started today. I'm your boy Q, host of the Lockdown Raiders podcast. And I'm here with the host of every team in the AFC West from my guy, David Drogamire, Lockdown Chargers, Sarah Bedinger, Lockdown Broncos and Ryan Tracy, locked on Chiefs. You may have heard of the Chiefs, they're pretty good. Back to back, Super Bowl Champs going for the TriFecta. But fellas, it's great to be back with you guys. So great to talk about the contenders, the pretenders. Just breaking down the division here. On the Lockdown Raiders podcast or Lockdown podcast network. And of course, we're going to also do our win totals by way of Fandil. So off top, I guess we could just go around the room real quick and David will start with you. Is there anyone outside of the Chiefs that you see as the contender for the AFC West this year? - No, unfortunately, Nia. I think there's a lot of turnover in change that's happened in the AFC West, whether it be quarterback change, coaching changes. But there's one team that hasn't really changed very much at all, and that is the Kansas City Chiefs. And so with that being said, with the quarterback and the coach and just the limit and the amount of turnover from year over year, still feel like they're in prime position to do a lot of damage in the AFC West. - Sarah, what are your thoughts? - I think the Chiefs are, I thought David was going to say he, you know, I'm trying not to pick the Broncos but I have to pick the Chiefs. But no, I think we're all going to be in agreement on this one, Kansas City, the juggernaut, the inevitable, the Patriots of the day, right? The dynasty of the day. And so I think going with the realm of realism here, I'm sticking with the Chiefs winning the division this year. Now, what happens beyond that? It could be exciting, but, you know, the Chiefs, I think they're going to keep it pretty status quo. - Yeah, no, I agree and it's funny, man. It feels like that the other three teams in the division consistently are competing for second place, right? Who's going to be in that second place? It's just how Ben and Ryan obviously locked on Chiefs. I mean, just how are you feeling about the team coming in? I'm sure you believe the Chiefs are going to win the division as well. - I mean, I feel a whole other than I did three minutes ago. You guys are knocking it out of the park. I have no arguments whatsoever. You know, from my point of view, I'm like, okay, we got a rookie left tackle. We got a rookie that's got to be our field stretcher, lost our best cover guy. So I got a couple of quirks that I'm a little tied up about, but I'm going with your predictions. - No, that's all good. And when you have, you know, a team that you're focusing on, of course, you're going to look at things that could derail the team obviously, but as far as I'm concerned, and tool, some team gets knocked off until the Chiefs get knocked off, it's their division. And it's up to the Chargers, it's up to the Broncos, and it's up to the Raiders to knock off the Chiefs. And well, just haven't done it. So let's go over some of the totals, the expectations. Fandal.com has provided us the totals as far as the win losses and the over-under. So we'll go over that real quick and we'll start with those Kansas City Chiefs, 11 and a half, the over-under. How are you feeling about that, Ryan? - You know, I have them as a 13 win season at this point, so 11 makes me feel pretty comfortable. There's a little margin for error there, I'll take it. - What do you think, David? - Yeah, so for eight and a half, honestly, for me, I think that's a little bit low. And I understand that with the context of, you know, what they did last year, but they're under much, much better, much more experienced leadership with Jim Harbaugh. And honestly, I feel like with Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert, they should be winning no less than 10 games. So in my opinion, that is a low win total, but there's a lot of change. So I can understand why they came to that conclusion. - Yeah, so Fandal has the charges listed there at eight and a half as far as they're over-under and the win total for the Broncos. It's at five and a half, Sarah. New quarterback, you know, Sean Payton comes back again. He's got his guy, Bo Nix, he's named him the starter. Five and a half, is that right? Is that low? Is that high? What are you thinking? - I love that win total projection because I think it's easiest one to smash the over on, right? I mean, the Broncos won five games with Nathaniel Hackett, you know, when they fire the rookie head coach in season, I don't think there's any way you hit the under on that one. Not with Sean Payton, never won fewer than seven games as a head coach in the NFL. And he even came out recently and said that he doesn't think this team's gonna win less than seven games this year. So I think it's a pretty easy one to smash the over. I like it. They're keeping the Broncos humble these days, even though we have plenty of reason to be already. - Well, you know, it's funny, as far as the Raiders, Fandel has them at the over under six and a half and three out of the four years, they've gone over it. And it's just, it's funny that they keep getting a low number. And I'm like you, Sarah, like, hey, that's cool. Smash the over, right, go for the over. I feel very confident that they'll go over it. Obviously, there's gonna be a lot of questions with the Raiders with their quarterback position, what they're gonna do offensively. We know Antonio Pierce wants to be the defensive minded guy, so he's really gonna hang his hat on that. But, you know, I think that as far as just wind total, I think you could smash the over as well. So I think we're all really comfortable. 11 and a half for the Chiefs. Ryan has them at a 13-win team, eight and a half for the Chargers. David has them as a 10-win team. So hit the over on that. I have the Raiders over six and a half and the Broncos over five and a half. So we're all over. How about that? We're all over. We think that these teams are all gonna be at a much higher level than what Fandel has, which means-- - Imagine that. - You can win some money. That means that you can win some money. Right? (laughs) - There's nothing wrong with that. You can absolutely win some good money if you hit the over. But, you know, also just want to kind of, David, especially with you and the Chargers and Jim Harbaugh now being there as the hit coach. And, you know, of course, he's got his quarterback that he's been talking about. Justin Herbert forever talked about him while he was at Michigan. Just what has been the field so far just for you with this team as the preseason is wrapped up now? - Yeah, I mean, the feeling, I think, there's a lot of excitement around the Chargers, especially because, you know, they've had three first-time head coaches back to back to back. And it feels like the ownership's kind of went on the cheaper side, you know, trying to bring those guys in. And now, you know, after that, you know, embarrassment that happened that caused the change of them getting rid of Tom Telesco and getting rid of Brandon Staley, I think it was time for them to bust open the checkbook and go out there and get an established winner. And that's what Jim Harbaugh is. At every single stop that he's been, whether it's USD, whether it's Stanford, whether it's, you know, the 49ers or Michigan, all of those teams were losers when he got there. After he left, they were all winners, obviously capping that off with the National Championship at Michigan just last year. So, you know, the Chargers' ownership to their credit, you know, they busted out the check. They wrote an $80 million check to Jim Harbaugh and said, hey, you know, here's the keys to the kingdom. We are going to give you every single coach that you want. We're going to give you the biggest staff that you want. Now it's time for you to go out there and put up or shut up. But it's all about changing the identity of this football team queue. It's about going from a finesse team that was built from the outside in to a hard-nosed physical, run it down, your throat beat you up type of physical football team that's built from the inside out. - Yeah, there's no doubt about that. We know Jim Harbaugh is going to run the rock and run it a lot for you, Sarah. Obviously, you got your quarterback now at Bowniks. As I mentioned before, Sean Payton has named him as the starter. Why is he the right guy for the job there in Denver? - Well, I think he's going to, first of all, do what Sean Payton's asking, which was not the case last year with Russell Wilson. Although, I mean, Russell did, you know, his stuff that he always has done at the end of games and helped the Broncos going a little streak there. But Bowniks, he's been a little bit more of a playmaker, too, than I think people expected. So, he's got the playmaker, Gene. Plus, he's going to run the offense really well. And he's got that poise. He's got that moxie, that leadership ability. And frankly, I've never been part of the Broncos drafting and developing their own guy in-house. So, if it happens to work out here, I would be all for that. 'Cause I've never seen that happen. - Ryan, for you, in the Chiefs. And you mentioned that there's a couple, you know, rookies there that are going to be expected to step up right away, defending back-to-back champs. You know, what is it that stands out to you about this upcoming season? - You know, it's really kind of trying to find a way back to the future. And that is having that deep game back with the exhibit where the Hollywood will return. Eventually, he's dealing with a sternoclevicular sprain right now. But having that aspect of opening the offense back up, should give Travis Kelsey a little bit more clearance where she writes a work underneath. They got, I don't know, 1700 little tiny slot dudes in camp. So, like, they have plenty of underneath targeting that they can accomplish. And I think that's what they want to do. The big thing is they're going to get back to the run game because they're going to have light boxes all year long once they see those receivers. So, I'm excited about it. If I had my brothers, I'd go old school too, like they're going to do in Los Angeles, 'cause I'd like to see them run the rock more. - Well, there's going to be a lot of running the rock in Vegas, Antonio Pierce wants to run the ball, run the ball just like Jim Harbaugh wants to run the ball. You know, the offensive line has to come together. And obviously, the Raiders are going to also want to hang their hat on defense. And they continue to try to follow that same blueprint that they followed on Christmas. You know, that's the big game that all the Raider Nation continues to talk about. That was also the last time that Chiefs lost. And then they go on to win the Super Bowl, but that defensive blueprint is what Antonio Pierce, Patrick Graham, a company they want to stick to for this upcoming season. We're just getting started coming up. One thing that could derail the season for each of the teams in the AFC West. That's up next here on the 2024 lockdown NFL season preview of the AFC West. - Before we get to that though, I do want to tell you about one of our great sponsors, which is eBay Motors. Passion, drive and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your rider die alive. eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. Superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights and more. Whether you're in a speed power style, eBay Motors has you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one rider die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay's guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need, the prices you want, it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins. Keep your rider die alive at ebaymotors.com. Elsewhere items only, exclusions apply, eBay guarantee fit only available to U.S. customers. - This is David Harrison of the lockdown commanders podcast. And you know we love talking stats here at the lockdown podcast network. Well, here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cashback you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cashback match. That means with Discover, you can turn $150 cashback into $300. That's right. You can put it towards some sports memorabilia you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a premium sports network. You earn and discover doubles, see terms at discover.com/creditcard. - The 2024 lockdown NFL season preview continues as we're talking all things AFC West, David Dragamires, Sarah Bedinger, Ryan Tracy, and Hugh Myers here all from the lockdown Raiders, locked on Chiefs, locked on Broncos and locked on Chargers. So fellas want to talk about one thing that could derail each season. We all expect the Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC West this season. So Ryan, we'll start with you. What's the one thing that could derail the season for Kansas City? - You know, normally I would tell you any kind of injury to Pat Mahomes that makes him this more than a game. But I will say this, kudos to Andy Reed for finally getting the back quarterback he wanted. Carson Wentz looks like he's adapting the offense. He comes from a system that was very similar. So I can't say that that's the one thing, but it is, I think now the age of Travis Kelsey. He was sheltered a little bit last season, came on late at the end. If they can keep his pitch count correct, then he'll be fine. If they let that get out of control, that could bog down what is really the spark plug of this offense right now. - All right, Sarah, in Denver, what's the one thing that could derail the season and make everything go wrong? - Well, I'm with Ryan and it starts with the injury. I mean, if you don't at least get a good evaluation on Bow/Nix this season, it kind of feels like it would be a wash, even though you'd love to see some Zach Wilson out there, you know, or Jared Sitem, I'm sure. But we want to see Bow/Nix play. We want to have him take his lumps and make sure that he's able to, like we talked about in the previous segment, operate what Sean Payton wants to do offensively and go out there and win some games. More than five and a half, obviously at this point. And I think if non-injury wise, what could derail this season is potentially just young players not stepping up, right? The Broncos are a really young roster. They cut or traded pretty much, you know, most of the notable names on the team from last year and replaced them with a lot of guys that even with the fan base is like, who's going to be playing outside corner this year? Who's going to be playing off ball linebacker next to Alex Singleton? So it's a lot of these young players at pretty much, you know, any area of this roster that you look at that if those guys don't step up the way Sean Payton thinks, then the season would get derailed for sure. - Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how Bo Nix, which is a rookie, but it's funny because he comes in with so much experience in college, right? 61 career starts. So that's really good. Most of the time you see a rookie and they only have a handful of games under their belt, but 61 is a lot of experience. So we'll see how that translates in the NFL and of course with the Denver Broncos. David, we know that Jim Harbaugh's going to want to run the rock a lot there in LA with the Chargers. What could derail it? What can make this season go wrong? - Yeah, I think when you look at the Chargers offense, they have a lot of young wide receivers, a lot of unproven talent in that room. So I think, you know, if they don't get the maturation from those receivers in that room, that could definitely spell some challenges for the Chargers offense. I do feel like they expect Justin Herbert to be a quarterback. That's good enough to elevate the talent that is around him and he has showcasing an ability to do that. But I think as far as, you know, what else would derail is the Chargers, you know, had some salary cap issues that they had to navigate this off season. And that resulted in them having to bring in a lot of, kind of, you know, one year contracts for guys that were, you know, having to bounce back from seasons that weren't the best the previous year. You know, guys like Bradley Bozeman at the center position, guys like Christian Fulton at the cornerback position, DJ Chark, you know, there's several examples on this roster where they have guys that, you know, didn't do well or didn't perform as well or up to their potential the previous year. And the Chargers are hoping that a change of scenery will get them to be able to play better this season with the Chargers. - Can you tell my guy Quentin Johnson to step up? Please, that's the home boy, man. Can you tell me? - I know, man. Well, I can tell you he's actually improved quite a bit in this off season, the route running, the separation. It is actually like truly gotten improved. And that's not just me saying it. That's everybody who has watched practice. QJ is a very much different receiver going into his sophomore season. - Good, good. Shout out to Temple, Texas, that's my guy. So I'm always hoping that Q does really well. I'm not just because his name starts with the Q, but for the Raiders for the season to be a derail, just to be a derailment in general, it's just a quarterback play, right? I mean, there's no way around it. Garner Minshew and Aiden O'Connell aren't, you know, the sexiest names and the sexiest quarterbacks in the league, it's just, they're not. The Raiders have to get good, consistent quarterback play. They're not gonna get elite quarterback play. I mean, there's no mistake in it. There's not, they're not, you know, Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert or, you know, even Bo Nix who has high expectations, right? But they're just, they're a couple of guys. Minshew, we know who he is, right? He's a, he's a journeyman. He's getting the start for the season because well, Antonio Pierce said that they need a spark. They need a guy to, to be able to get into the season really quickly. So, you know, at some point I'm expecting the Aiden O'Connell will probably play as well. He's just, it's kind of the nature of the piece. So the, the, the season will go bad if the quarterback play is bad. And so that's obviously gonna be the big question. Mentioning it multiple times that the defenses where the Raiders are gonna want to hang their hat this season. And they've got the playmakers on offense. You know that. I mean, Devonta, Jacoby, Brock Powers, we could talk about him in a little while, but they've got to have a guy that can get on the ball. So that's gonna be Gardner Minshew or Aiden O'Connell are probably a combination of the two. So when it comes to the division and who we're looking at is the potential MVP of the division, David, I'll start with you. Who do you think is in line to potentially be division MVPs? - Yeah, I mean, I think there's two guys that come to mind quite, quite honestly. I think everybody are probably gonna say similar names, but Patrick Mahomes is first and foremost. That's the easiest one. Obviously, you know, there's, there's not really much that needs to be said. I mean, he's one of the best, he's the best, you know, quarterback on the planet period. I mean, it just is his experience, his productivity, the championships, the wins. I mean, he just does everything at a very, very high level. So it just, it is what it is. And then of course, I think Justin Herbert has that ability as well. I mean, the arm talent. And everything that he's done, the stats that he's put up in the first four years with no semblance of a running game and really, you know, no good defense at all. I mean, he's at a bottom five defense pretty much every year of his NFL career. So we're hoping, you know, with the new additions on the coaching staff and, you know, and a better running game that we'll be able to get a more efficient version of Justin Herbert, which of course, it doesn't matter how good you are if you don't win games. If your teams do not win games, even though it's an individual award, there's no individual awards that go to players on losing teams. That's just, that's the fact of the matter. So the Chargers have to win in order for Justin Herbert to be in position. And hopefully the pairing of Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert will push them over the edge. - Sarah, what are you looking at when you're looking at MVPs, potential MVPs in the AFC West? - Well, I think the low hanging fruit is, of course, Patrick Mahomes offensively, but Justin Herbert has a chance. If the Chargers go as, you know, like David's saying there, I mean, if the Chargers win a lot of games, Justin's going to be in that conversation. I think defensively is where you kind of have two underrated potential defensive MVP candidates. Chris Jones, Max Crosby. I think those two guys have such an opportunity to affect games weekend and week out. I mean, we saw even last year with the down year that she's had offensively, that defense was able to dominate teams, right? And Chris Jones is the biggest reason why, in my opinion, and anytime the Broncos play Max Crosby, I don't know, I feel like they tried blocking him with four or five guys at a time, but it doesn't seem to work. So those two guys to me are legit defensive MVP candidates on that side of the ball as well. And I think, you know, you go up against those guys a couple times a year. It can derail your season as well when you go up against those two guys in particular. - It's funny, those are exactly the guys I was thinking about. Obviously, you know, you've got Patrick Mahomes, you've got Justin Herbert on the offensive side of things, quarterbacks, you know what? They mean to the league, but I was thinking of those two dudes defensively as well. You know, Chris Jones and Max Crosby, you know, just fantastic players, players that play at the highest level all the time. So I would look at those guys as potential MVPs as well in the AFC West. And Ryan, what are you looking at as far as who do you have on your short list of potential MVPs in the division? - You know, it's tough and I like that you went defense 'cause I do think that that is a possibility. If it takes a while to get what is a lot of targets on track for Patrick Mahomes, maybe it does slow down and maybe the defense has a chance because unfortunately, for the other big quarterbacks in the division, they have a little bit hard row to hoe here, you know, Justin I agree has that potential, but I don't know about his targets, right? Is he gonna have enough there? The targets might be a little bit better. I mean, nobody's better than Davante, but who's throwing to him, right? So the other guy that I'll mention, I was gonna go max, but well done. I'll say if he can up the takeaway percentage against what I think is maybe a lighter group of receivers in the division, I think Patrick Tank could be in the running as well. So there's a possibility there to be the shut down guy in this division. - That's a good one. That's a really good one. Pastor Tan is fantastic. I think that Jack Jones, you know, if he could stay healthy and play throughout the course of the 17 game season, again, Brian, to your point, takeaways, right? You got to have takeaways. And to David's point, you got to be on a winning team, right? Raider fans always get mad 'cause why come max isn't getting more love because Raiders are losing, right? I mean, it's just bottom line. - Same thing with Khalil Mack last year. He had 17 sacks had more than the defensive player of the year, but the Chargers won five games. So it didn't matter what he did. - Exactly. I mean, that's the bottom line and it's unfortunate, but that's what it is. If your team is not winning games, then they're not going to get that recognition. So I like that a lot of really good thoughts there from quarterbacks to defensive players. I think that there's definitely a handful of guys that can make a name for themselves, but at the end of the day, you've got to win games. So if they can do that, then they'll be in the mix for that. So we're getting ready to enter a long 18-week season. We want all the teams that we cover, obviously, to come out on top. But before the battle begins, we got to give the other teams some flowers. It's 2024, locked on NFL season preview of the AFC West. - We'll get to that right after I tell you about the title sponsor of the show, which is Fandoor. You've heard me talk about Fandoor a lot. It's America's number one sports book. Well, they have something a little bit different for you. Now through September 22, all Fandoor customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV, only by betting $5. Then with the YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday, afternoon, out of market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time. 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Coverage options are selected by the customer, availability amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. - In the 2024 Locked On NFL season preview continues or reminder you can get daily coverage of your favorite NFL team by subscribing to the Locked On to podcast to their Locked On podcast. We also have the NFL covered nationally with Locked On NFL, Locked On NFL scouting, Peacock at Williamson, Locked On Fantasy football and Locked On Dynasty football and get 24/7 coverage of the NFL with our brand new Locked On NFL stream free on YouTube and Amazon fire TVs. That's a lot that we've got going on. On the Locked On network, a little flex right there. I think that that's awesome, that everything is covered from every single angle. So no matter what you want and how you want it, you got it here on the Locked On podcast network. So guys, we want to go around the league and around the division I should say and give other teams some flowers, some guys that really are big time players in the division. And we kind of talked about it and touched on it when we talked about potential MVPs. But David, let's start with you. As you look around the division, who are some players that you look at? And like, wow, that's a fantastic player. - Yeah, I mean, I can easily give one from every single team. I think Max Crosby is a player from the Raiders that is a defensive end. You want every single defensive end to emulate with how he plays the game with the effort. And I think also just a great story. Fem turning his life around and trying to beating addiction. I think that's an admirable story for him. And he's a fantastic defensive player. I think for the Broncos, for me, it was Patrick Sotan. I mean, he's incredible. Career reception percentage of 60.1%. Career missed tackle rate under 10%, 24 pass breakups, seven interceptions in the three years. Like he's truly a fantastic player. And then of course, Chris Jones, we've already talked about, he's just a game record. I mean, you don't see a lot of guys now that Aaron Donald is no longer in the league that has the ability to truly take over a game from the middle, from the interior of your defensive line. And yeah, they move them around and they try to get the matchups, but he spends the most of his time in the middle of a defense, wrecking offensive linemen. And so I think those are all players that, you know, you have to kind of give some consideration and give them their flowers. They're all great players. David, I think that you were a scouting passer tan there. Maybe you're trying to get the Chargers to go make a move for him. We always hear his name. Maybe he's going to be a potentially a trade partner or whatever. - My goodness, I would love it. I mean, I mean, hello, he's a fantastic player. Add him with Derwin James and Cleo Mack. Oh my goodness, that would be incredible. - It really would, but I'm sure Denver's not going to let that guy get outside. - Nah, never. - Especially not to a division opponent. - Right, that part. - Ryan, what are you thinking? When do you look around the league or the division? Who are you looking at that you kind of, you want to have the cap too? - You know, I'm really intrigued for what the Chargers offense is going to become. And I'm a big Gus fan. So I think he has the potential through that offensive line, particularly on the left side, really, really pissed off about the Chargers picking up a legacy for the Chiefs in Alt's kid. So I can see a lot going on there. I'm going to be paying particular attention there. And resurgence wise, I like Sutton paired with Nix. Like, can he actually live up to his potential? That's another one that I'm going to be closely watching on. But honestly, the one that I'm most angry about Q is 'cause of you. 'Cause Wilkins, in that defensive front with Max, just makes me angry. 'Cause that's what I wanted in Kansas City. And I think that might be the dynamic duo that maybe lifts the whole front for the Raiders that have to pay special attention to. - Yeah, he's a special player, man. Just being able to watch him in training camp, Christopher Wilkins is fantastic. So I know exactly what you mean, what he brings to the table. Sarah, what are you thinking? Who are you looking at, tipping the cap to? - Yeah, I like some of the deeper cuts in this division, honestly. I've been watching some Raiders pre-season ball queue, just so you know, I have been paying attention. I like Trey Tucker. I don't know how big of a role he's going to have this season, but he's really been impressive with just the vertical speed, playmaking ability at the catch point. I've really liked what I've seen from him as a third round pick. I believe last year, top 100 guy. And he looks real good this off season. So I like him for the Kansas City Chiefs. It's not as deep of a cut, but Trent McDuffie stepping up the last couple of years, really becoming one of the elite corners, in my opinion, in the game. And I'm very interested, and maybe Ryan can shed some insight as we go along here, but who's going to be playing corner along with him with Nigeria's Sneed Gone, but even without Nigeria's, I think that Trent is outstanding. And he's one of those guys that's just like, just don't throw the ball. That guy's direction is pointless to do that. And for the Chargers, I know we talked a little bit about Khalil Mack earlier, but what about Tulli Tuipilotu? I mean, having a pretty strong rookie season, 12 quarterback hits, a couple of forced fumbles. I think he's one of those guys that could really come on in the division this year as well. - No, I agree. I agree. Fantastic players. And Ryan, go ahead, tell us who's going to be playing across from Trent. - Yeah, you're guys as good as mine. (laughs) We're playing. You're playing. We're going to keep 10 DBs. How's that? That work for you? Okay. Could be Joshua Williams, could be Jalen Watts. Could be Nazi Johnson. The cool part about it is they're all from the same draft class along with Trent McDuffie. So it is the fab five that will be on the field for the Chiefs. Those were corners in Brown Cook would be your starter at the free safety look. Lot of options there, but your guess is literally as good as mine today. - No, go ahead and write that down. Throw on the opposite side of Trent McDuffie. All right, good. All right. - That is funny. That is funny. Well, I'm looking at Kansas City. I'm looking at Xavier Worthy, right? The speedster that I don't think anyone understands how the Chiefs ended up with him. I think there's still a conversation about how did that happen? And obviously he's a rookie. - How did we allow this? - Right, right, exactly. I mean, hey, you know, I think a good idea is give Kansas City more weapons. Have another weapon 'cause why not, right? So he's going to be, I think, a fantastic player. I liked him a lot coming out of the University of Texas. You know, in L.A. with the Chargers, man. I mean, I got to look at the big fella that the first pick, right? Joe Alt, I mean, that dude. I mean, he's going to be one of those guys that you just put him there and you just leave him there for 10, 15 years or whatever the case may be. Like, that's exactly what Jim Harbaugh wants. I mean, there's no doubt about that. And, you know, now you have him and you've got Cornerstone guys there on the offensive line. You should be solid there and Jim will do the rest, just kind of build around that. And, you know, we've already talked about Passertan in Denver, but how could you not continue to talk about Passertan in Denver, right? I mean, he's fantastic. I like, man, I like that player. A lot was a big fan of his when he was at Alabama. And obviously, he's a problem. And I've seen a close person, those Sarah's, you know, seeing many battles between Devonta and him. And, you know, that dude holds it down. And when you're holding it down and winning against a guy like Devonta Adams, then if you're not noticing this 'cause you're closing your eyes, he's just-- - He's got something figured out. - Right, right. He's just that good of a player. And I'm honestly-- I'm excited to see what Bo-Nix could bring to the table 'cause he's had a really good preseason. I wasn't high on him coming out of school. I just was kind of like, "Yeah, I don't know." But he's had a really good preseason. There was a reason why Champagne named him the starter. And then, and maybe you can shed some light on this. Troy Franklin, right? They drafted him as well. And that was Bo-Nix's college teammate. I think that there's something to that, right? They already have that familiarity. What are you seeing from Franklin? - Well, he's done a decent job at camp from what I understand. He's struggling a little bit with dropped passes. We haven't seen a ton of looks at really any of the wide receivers in the preseason. It's been a lot of stuff to the tight ends, running backs, things like that. And Troy has had a, you know, up-and-down camp. Some people even speculating like, "Could this guy get cut? "I don't think that's gonna happen." But I do agree with you. The chemistry that he's got with Bo-Nix, it's gonna come into play at some point. I think with Denver's receiver room, the way that it is right now, he's probably at best fifth or sixth in line. So I would expect more of a mid-season, like as an injury replacement from Troy Franklin, or if he kind of comes on in practices and starts stacking days a little bit more, not saying it was too big for him or anything like that, but just when you drop in passes, you know, and you want the offense to stay on schedule, that's tough for a rookie. And so you don't want him to go out there and get the yips or anything like that. You wanna make sure that he's feeling confident. And so I think we're gonna hear a lot more about Troy behind the scenes before we see him making a bunch of big plays in the regular season. - Nice, all right, I like it. All right, now we're gonna go kind of rapid fire, but go around the division and talk about what we think the conference record's gonna be. And as far as, you know, where it's gonna go, you know, Chiefs, whatever order you guys think the season's gonna get wrapped up and who's gonna win the division and who's gonna come in second, third and fourth. So David, we'll start with you. What do you think about the division? How do you see it shaken out? - Yeah, so I got Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Broncos. That's how I have it set up for this division. - All right, Sarah, back at you. - I've got Chiefs, Broncos, Chargers, Raiders this season. - All right, got the Raiders coming in dead last. There you go. That's it, Ryan, where are you at? - Sorry, Q. I got Chiefs, Chargers, Broncos, Raiders, too. It's just the quarterback thing. And somebody helped Devante. Will you, please? - I mean, that's fair. That's fair, right? I'm gonna prove themselves. So for some reason, I'm gonna give the Raiders more love than that just because I think that they're gonna find a way to do something defensively. I do think that they're gonna go over that six and a half win total that we talked about in the first segment. So I'm gonna go Chiefs. I feel like the Chargers and Raiders are always competing for that number two spot. I feel like that they're always kind of back and forth. Let's say I'll go Chiefs, I'll go Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Broncos. How about that? Just for S's and giggles, why not? I'll go. But I think, like I said, I feel like, David, correct me if I'm wrong. Are the Raiders and Chargers kind of always, they feel like they split every year with each other. Feels like that they're always kind of competing for that next spot. - Yeah, they definitely are. I think they're trying to get over the hump, trying to get over the Chiefs. But I think we're still probably maybe a year or two away from both of our perspectives. I think the Chargers are probably just in a little bit better position 'cause they know who the coaches, they know who the quarterback is. And I think defensively, the Raiders have a lot of things figured out, but offensively, there's a lot of questions. And I think until those questions get answered, I think that's the order in which it's going to finish. - Right, right. And look, I think that the Raiders have a chance to be a really good team, but at the end of the day, as Ryan said, you gotta have a quarterback, man. I mean, it's a league that you gotta have a quarterback. There's no doubt about it. Three teams in the division are very comfortable with who their quarterback is, and one has a big question, Mark. So there's that. But fellas, the season's here, right? We're excited about the season. The AMC West is always a battle. It's always a lot of fun. And we just get to talk about games that really matter. So David, have a fantastic season. Of course, locked on Chargers. Make sure you check in. All things Chargers, David does a fantastic job. Sarah Beninger, a locked on Broncos, fantastic job as well. Ryan Tracy, of course, tip of the cap to you and the Ken C Chiefs, locked on Chiefs. And I'll be here for the locked on Raiders podcast. So this is our 2024 locked on NFL season preview of the AFC West. - A prime member. 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