AFC West Players that Need to Step Up

Oakland Raiders

The Raiders are coming off a 2006 season when they only scored 12 offensive touchdowns. Other than the offensive coordinator the blame could be placed at the feet of the offensive line and quarterback. After scoring only 12 touchdowns the Raiders were fortunate enough to have the #1 pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. With that pick Oakland chose former LSU QB JaMarcus Russell who still has not been signed. Either the contract negotiations or the belief that the Raiders could win now led Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis to sign Daunte Culpepper. Culpepper is essentially playing for a job in 2008. Culpepper first must prove that he is healthy . If Daunte is healthy then he must show the rest of the NFL who the real Culpepper is. Is he the player that threw 39 TD's, 4,717 yards, only 12 INT's and completed 69.2% of his passes or is he the Culpepper that had 6 TD's and threw 12 INT's in 2005. If this is the Culpepper that threw 39 TD's then Oakland has the best QB in the AFC West. If it's the other Daunte then the Raiders QB is only slightly better than Brodie Croyle.

Kansas City Chiefs

There is a QB competition in Kansas City between Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard. There is no question that at this point in time Damon is a better player than Brodie. A better question is how long could Huard be the Chiefs #1 QB and how long do they believe Brodie can be their QB? The Chiefs believe that Croyle can be their QB for the next 10 years. On the other hand, at best Huard would only be the Chiefs QB for this season as long as they are still in contention for a playoff spot. One school of thought is to throw Croyle to the wolves now and let him work through his mistakes as opposed to waiting until 2008 and living with Brodie's growing pains. The plan is for Croyle to rely on All Pro RB Larry Johnson and let him carry the offense. Opposing defenses plan on making Croyle complete passes to beat them. Kansas City must play the Bears and Chargers in week two and week four Brodie needs to keep his mistakes at a minimum in both of those games.

San Diego Chargers