The first wave of this year’s free agency is officially in the rearview mirror. From March 10th onward, teams league-wide were allowed to agree to terms with players without a contract, although no deals were able to become official until March 12th; the start of the NFL’s 2025 season. This marked the beginning of a period where all 32 clubs, including those in the AFC West – the Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders – have a chance to improve their roster by adding veteran football players to their team.
All four teams in the AFC West have already taken advantage of that.
No club in the division struck more deals with players in the meantime than the Los Angeles Chargers, reaching agreements with 13 free agents. Interestingly enough, the Chargers are also the only AFC West team who didn’t hand out a contract north of $10 million per season.
The Kansas City Chiefs agreed to terms with nine players, hoping to solve their tackle problems by making Jaylon Moore their highest-paid free agent thus far on a two-year, $30 million deal.
Both the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos had between six and seven additions, with the latter going above $10 million annually on three-of-six signings. Sin City surpassed this mark with the re-signing of Malcolm Koonce alone, who’s now working on a one-year, $12 million deal.
But which signing was the best by each of these teams thus far? That’s the question that’s going to get answered.
Best signing by each AFC West club in Wave 1 of free agency: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders
Denver Broncos – A third dominant tight end in the AFC West
Denver opted to surpass the $10 million mark annually on three players, and for good reason. Safety Talanoa Hufanga, linebacker Dre Greenlaw and tight end Evan Engram should all be prominent players for the Broncos as far as the immediate future is concerned.
And while all three stand as great signings, none is bigger than the addition of Evan Engram.
Going into his second season, quarterback Bo Nix needs more trust-worthy weapons to throw to. It seemed Denver would address this by adding to the wide receiver room, but instead, they capitalized on a Pro Bowl tight end suddenly becoming available.
Engram, like interdivision tight ends Travis Kelce and Brock Bowers, provides a legitimate first-option in the passing game from the tight end position. While the 30-year-old has never been able to accumulate 1,000 receiving yards in a season, he did manage to total the second-most catches by a tight end in a season throughout NFL history (114).
That mark is one-of-two season catch totals Brock Bowers failed to match this past year.
It is true that Engram is coming off of one of his least productive campaigns as a pro, totaling 47 receptions, one touchdown and the second-lowest yards per contest mark of his career, but his ability to lead a passing attack is clear. He more than proved that true just two seasons ago.
Getting your young quarterback a reliable pass-catcher to lead your offense? A+ move, Denver. Truly.
Los Angeles Chargers – Jim Harbaugh’s philosophy personified
For most teams, adding Najee Harris is a good move–and that’s the extent of it. But for Jim Harbaugh, who loves nothing more than dominating in the trenches and smash-mouth football, the addition of Najee Harris is like adding jelly to a peanut butter sandwich.
And at the price tag of $5.25 million? It doesn’t get any better than that.
Harris exemplifies smash-mouth football as well as any running back throughout the entirety of the National Football League. In fact, since 2021, Harris is the only player league-wide to rank top-10 in forced missed tackles each season. One-of-one.
That’s helped propel Harris to a 1,000-yard campaign on the ground each and every season since being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
More impressively, Harris has achieved these feats behind an offensive line that hasn’t given him much help since coming into the NFL. In 2021, Najee’s rookie year, Pittsburgh’s offensive line was ranked the 26th-best via Pro Football Focus’ yearly rankings. That number jumped up to 16th-best in 2022, and 17th-best in 2023, but fell back down to 27th-best this past season.
With the Chargers, Harris gets an offensive line that features Rashawn Slater, Zion Johnson, and now, Mekhi Becton. Look out, AFC West.
Kansas City Chiefs – Fixing the tackle situation (hopefully)
Had linebacker Nick Bolton signed his deal on March 10th as opposed to March 9th, this section would be about him; zero questions asked. Bolton is that good. But, that’s not what happened.
In any case, adding Jaylon Moore to a roster in desperate need of tackle help is an excellent move in itself. One that’s equally deserving of that ‘best’ title.
In 2024, as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, Moore joined Trent Williams as the only player on the roster to record both a pass- and run-blocking grade of 70-plus. The 27-year-old allowed one sack and 10 pressures on 158 passing downs.
The year prior, Moore once again allowed only one sack with eight pressures on 121 pass-blocking snaps.
It’s true that this isn’t a groundbreaking addition to Kansas City’s roster, but in truth, it doesn’t need to be. This is an immediate solution to, frankly, the biggest reason why the Chiefs failed to lift the Lombardi Trophy this February. And it’s a perfectly adequate solution, too.
The Chiefs’ new left tackle should go a long way in helping take the AFC West once again, and potentially much more.
..No pun intended.
Las Vegas Raiders – A bargain at linebacker
First-year Raiders general manager John Spytek opted to let foundational defensive pieces walk this summer instead of breaking out the checkbook. As Robert Spillane became the 11th-highest paid off-ball linebacker in the NFL and Tre’von Moehrig landed fifth on the highest-paid safeties list, Spytek thought it best to go cheaper with Jeremy Chinn at safety (two-year, $16 million) and Elandon Roberts (one-year, $3 million) at linebacker.
Two things can both be true: Sin City actively downgraded at both positions with these moves. However, both moves give the Raiders more bang for their buck.
Especially Elandon Roberts, who agreed to a one-year contract worth up to $3 million.
Among all linebackers across the NFL to total at least 100 snaps against the run in 2024, only two earned a higher grade against the run than Roberts’ mark of 90.4. Moehrig was the only player on Las Vegas’ entire roster to come within 3.0 of this grade (87.5), and while Spillane just missed out on joining his teammate here, his 87.3 grade on running downs deserves a shout out as well.
Roberts was able to record 24 total stops on plays where opposing offenses ran the football. For perspective, Spillane was the only player in Sin City to eclipse this number in 2024, totaling 34 run-stops on 426 run-defense snaps. Roberts, in comparison, totaled 255 snaps on running downs.
Going from Robert Spillane to Elandon Roberts is not a lateral move. But, acquiring a player of Roberts’ caliber for a mere $3 million certainly helps heal the sting of losing Spillane. In the meantime, Las Vegas hopes to have another Spillane on their hands, who, like Roberts, came from the Steelers.
All Signs Continue Pointing Towards Ashton Jeanty For Pete Carroll, Raiders