AFC West is Loaded With Quarterback Talent After Russell Wilson Trade

Wilson is just the latest star quarterback to join the stacked division.

If he approves the reported trade between the Seahawks and Broncos, Russell Wilson will be leaving one loaded NFL division for another. With Wilson set to take over as Broncos quarterback, the AFC West will have one of the most impressive collections of quarterback talent that we’ve seen.

Wilson has been one of the league’s top starting quarterbacks since taking over as the Seahawks starter as a rookie in 2012. He led the team to a championship in Super Bowl XLVIII, blowing out his new franchise and the great Peyton Manning, 43–8. He has nine Pro Bowls under his belt, along with a second-team All-Pro selection in 2019, and led the league in passer rating in 2015 and touchdown passes in 2017.

He joins at least one other likely future Hall of Famer in the division. The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes has had a red-hot start to his career, reminiscent to how Wilson began his Seahawks tenure. Mahomes led the Chiefs to the title in Super Bowl LIV, taking home game MVP honors. He was the 2018 league MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, and earned first-team All-Pro honors that season, after leading the league with 50 touchdown passes. He has reached the Pro Bowl in each of the last four seasons.

The Chargers, meanwhile, have one of the league’s most prolific young quarterbacks in Justin Herbert, a first-round pick in 2020. Herbert reached his first Pro Bowl this season after winning Offensive Rookie of the Year the year before. In 2021, he set career highs with 5,014 yards and 38 touchdowns, leading the team to a 9–8 record.

The Raiders’ Derek Carr rounds out the division, assuming he remains in Las Vegas. He’s quietly been one of the NFL’s most productive signal callers, with four straight years over 4,000 passing yards. In 2021, he threw for a career high 4,804 yards, adding 23 touchdowns. The Raiders went 10–7, making the postseason for just the second time during his NFL career.

The division that Wilson leaves wasn’t a cakewalk either, with Matthew Stafford leading the Super Bowl champion Rams, along with Kyler Murray’s Cardinals and—for the moment—Jimmy Garoppolo with the 49ers. The new AFC West group, led by an MVP in Mahomes and a pair of Super Bowl champions, may just top it.

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