AFC NFL Training Camp Preview: QB Battles, Rookie RBs To Watch

Forbes

3 days ago

The Kansas City Chiefs maintained their hold on the American Football Conference in 2024, winning their ninth consecutive NFC West title and making their fifth Super Bowl appearance in the last six seasons.
Finding ways to frustrate the Buffalo Bills and 2024 league MVP Josh Allen has become part of the equation. This time it happened in the AFC title game.
While the Chiefs opened the season with nine straight wins, some of it came with smoke and mirrors before the Bills handed them their first regular-season loss.
Cincinnati missed a game-winning field in Week 2, Denver had a potential game-winning field goal blocked in Week 10 and Las Vegas botched a snap on the play before they could have tried another game-winning field goal in Week 13. They were blown out 40-22 by Philadelphia in the Super Bowl.
As training camps opened, the AFC race seemed as open as it has been during the Chiefs' run.
Can Pete Carroll Resuscitate the Raiders?
The Raiders turned to former Seattle Super Bowl-winning Pete Carroll after three straight seasons of losing and dysfunction following the resignation of Jon Gruden in 2021.
Carroll will be the oldest coach in NFL history when he turns 74 on Sept. 15, but his resume is hard to doubt. The league knows. It has scheduled a birthday present, a date with the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night football that night.
He is not the only new face. Carroll acquired old friend and quarterback Geno Smith in an offseason trade with the Seahawks. Smith and Carroll paired in 2022-23 with Seattle, when each finished 9-8 but did not not make the playoffs.
The Raiders have other weapons. Rookie tight end Brock Bowers had 112 receptions last season, third-most for that spot in NFL, and running back Ashton Jeanty was the sixth pick in the draft after a stellar college career at Boise State.
Are the Chiefs Still the Chiefs?
It is a fair question. Kansas City has set an impossibly high bar since quarterback Patrick Mahomes took over, but they showed signs of slippage even while making the Super Bowl a year ago.
Hall of Fame-in-waiting coach Andy Reid has work to do if the Chiefs are to keep with up rising AFC West contenders San Diego, Denver, Las Vegas to extend their decade of division dominance.
It starts with generational talent Mahomes, who had middling season, not only by his standards but by NFL metrics. He threw for a career-low 3,928 yards, which was seventh in the league, but his quarterback rating fell to 93.5, which was 17th among those who started at least 10 games.
An injury to running back Isiah Pacheco hurt the running game, and the Chiefs never have found an adequate replacement for Tyreek Hill since he signed with Miami. Travis Kelce had 823 receiving yards, his lowest total since he became a starter in 2014.
QB competitions in Cleveland, Indy
Cleveland drafted quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel (third round) and Shedeur Sanders (fifth round) this spring, but with Deshaun Watson likely out for the season with an Achilles injury, veteran Joe Flacco appears to be the leader in the clubhouse. Offseason acquisition Kenny Pickett fills out the quarterback room.
Flacco struggled in Denver and the New York Jets before a brilliant stretch with the Browns after Watson was hurt in 2023, going 4-1 with four straight 300-yard games as starter and leading them into the playoffs. Another 300-yard game was not enough to beat Houston in the playoffs.
The Colts bet their future on Anthony Richardson when they surprised the industry by making him the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft. Injuries have limited him to 15 games in his first two seasons, and his 12 interceptions and 47.7 completion percentage in 11 games last season created doubt.
Enter Daniel Jones, another surprisingly high draft pick (sixth overall, 2019) who was released by the New York Giants in November after injuries and limited success in his six seasons there.
Richardson has emerged as the favorite in early training camp action, but it is way too early to call it.
Rookie Running Backs To Monitor
The first six running backs taken in the 2025 draft went to AFC teams, and several could step right into starting spots depending on their preseason progress.
If Jeanty proves worthy of the No. 6 pick, he has the runway to be Carroll's new Marshawn Lynch. Fellow first-rounder Omarion Hampton could not have landed in a better spot than with Jim Harbaugh and the-first Chargers.
Second-rounders Quinshon Judkins (Browns), TreVeyon Henderson (Patriots) and RJ Harvey (Denver) join teams between them that had only one running back that accounted for at least 575 yards.
Third-rounder Kaleb Johnson was drafted by Pittsburgh, which lost free agent Najee Harris to the Chargers, Hampton's competition.