The Fantasy Points staff recently welcomed NFL Insider Adam Caplan to talk about the AFC West as part of our Virtual Town Hall Series. We highly encourage you to check out the entire conversation by accessing our Fantasy Points YouTube page and the Fantasy Points podcast feed.
Adam joined John Hansen and company to break down the AFC West from front to back to help us get a deeper understanding of every roster heading into the summer. John has been holding these closed-door meetings with Adam for the last 15+ years. The Fantasy Points staff is proud to let the public peek behind the curtain during these exclusive meetings! Here are the notes we compiled from the AFC South conversation.
Denver Broncos
Adam Caplan (AC): It’s a positive sign that they’re talking Javonte Williams up, but I’m still skeptical about his availability for early in the season. He suffered a multi-ligament injury so I’m taking what Sean Payton was saying with a grain of salt.
Joe Dolan (JD): Samaje Perine is going to be one of my most drafted running backs. I’m calling him “September Samaje.” He could get bell-cow work early in the season for as long as Javonte is out of the lineup.
Graham Barfield (GB): They could throw the ball a lot more than people think if Javonte is hurt early in the season. Perine is a strong receiver and pass protector, but he isn’t effective as a runner.
AC: Wilson certainly has more than enough to work with at receiver. He could surprise if Payton can get Russell playing a little above average. He had inaccuracy issues and he couldn’t see the field last year, and that’s a bad combination.
Brett Whitefield (BW): I don’t know if it will happen, but Payton is the one guy who could fix Wilson. He gets his quarterbacks to play on schedule.
GB: Jerry Jeudy was quietly awesome last year when he was healthy. He averaged 15+ FPG in the games when he was entirely healthy and didn’t leave early. He was the clear #1 WR when both he and Courtland Sutton were healthy last season.
Kansas City Chiefs
BW: I think Rashee Rice could play in the slot with JuJu Smith-Schuster gone from last year. Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore aren’t precise route runners that Rice is coming out of SMU. It wouldn’t be surprising if he played right away out of the slot.
AC: Agrees that Rice will play more on the inside, and Toney and Moore can play more on the outside. Marquez Valdes-Scantling is who they thought he would be despite his underwhelming production. He gives them a big-bodied vertical threat on the outside. MVS isn’t a volume receiver but they need to get him a few more targets.
GB: They wanted a full-blown rotation at wide receiver after they traded Tyreek Hill. Travis Kelce is the go-to receiver and they’ll mix in these speedy WRs around him.
AC: They think Toney could be the #1 WR. They just wanted him to get to the off-season to work with him after acquiring him last season. He’s got incredible movement skills. He’s a freak but you can’t completely trust him. He’s unwilling to play through injuries. He could be special if he plays 14 games.
GB: I was a fan of Clyde Edwards-Helaire coming out of college, but he had really bad injury luck in his first three seasons (high ankle, hip, gall bladder). He became a distant #3 last year. Isiah Pacheco is never going to be a big factor in the passing game. They’ll throw him screens. He runs like the Tasmanian Devil.
Las Vegas Raiders
GB: Not getting great feelings about Davante Adams being paired with Jimmy Garoppolo. The bottom could fall out pretty quickly for Davante as he enters his 30s. Jimmy G throws the ball well inside but can’t push the ball downfield or to the perimeter, which is where Davante excels. Davante is still great, but this combination is concerning.
BW: Davante was so good on deep routes last year, and Jimmy G just isn’t going to push the ball downfield. They’ll need to play Davante in the slot to get him targets, but they loaded up on a bunch of guys that are best suited to play inside.
AC: Zamir White should be the guy to handle early-down work if Jacobs is out of the lineup.
Los Angeles Chargers
AC: This could be the final year for both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. They have quarterback-type cap numbers in 2024, and Justin Herbert is about to get his long-term deal. Drafting Quentin Johnston in the first round is a signal that he’s their guy moving forward into the future after 2023.
GB: Johnston will need an injury in front of him to come through for redraft this year, but you can make the case he’ll have a big role out of the gates with the injury issues for both Williams and Keenan.
BW: I loved what they did on offense. Johnston is the playmaker they needed after the catch. He’ll give them that all over the field, and he can give you some downfield juice. I wouldn’t rule out a huge year for him. I compared him to a juiced-up CeeDee Lamb, and Kellen Moore could use him like Lamb as a rookie.
GB: Joe Lombardi was one of the worst OCs, but the offense revolved around Austin Ekeler, which was great for fantasy. If Herbert’s initial reads weren’t available, they’d dump it to Ekeler. We have to bake in some reception regression with Moore’s offense. They’re going to air it out more downfield.
BW: Moore’s offense shouldn’t prevent targets from going to Ekeler. They should still use tempo and no-huddle on offense, which leads to more check-down targets. He did well to get Tony Pollard in space the last few years.
