2020 POTENTIAL BREAKOUT STARS: AFC WEST PART 2

BY ADAM GREENE

Like Part 1, our second section of potential AFC West break out stars has a rookie featured as well as a guy that probably wouldn’t have made the list if he’d played for a better team in 2019.

LAS ANGELES CHARGERS

Running back Austin Ekeler

(2019: 132 carries, 557 yards, three touchdowns, 92 receptions, 993 yards, eight receiving touchdowns)

When people look back at the 2019 season and Melvin Gordon’s fruitless hold out, they’ll point to the emergence of Ekelar as the reason Gordon never got his $10 million plus payday. Gordon still finished the season as LA’s leading rusher, gaining 612 yards and scoring eight touchdowns, but it was Ekelar who took most of the snaps in the offense.

Gordon had 162 carries and 42 catches. Ekelar got 132 carries and 92 catches, and averaged 4.2 yards per carry verses Gordon’s 3.8. While his rushing totals weren’t spectacular, his receiving charts were some of the best in the league. He was seven yards away from breaking a thousand and a 92-catch season would likely get a wide receiver in a Pro Bowl conversation (and probably equal about 1,800 yards).

With Ekelar getting most of the carries at running back this season, he could easily end up over 1,000 yards in head coach Anthony Lynn’s run-heavy scheme. It’ll have to be, as the Chargers will either be using journeyman Tyrod Taylor at quarterback or rookie Justin Herbert. With either of those guys behind center, Ekelar will become even more valuable as a pass-catcher and safety valve.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS

Wide Receiver Henry Ruggs III

(Rookie)

If the Raiders’ plans last offseason had worked out, they probably wouldn’t have drafted Ruggs out of Alabama. Trade acquisition Antonio Brown would have been their No. 1 receiver, nabbed for a third and fifth round pick in what some people thought was a bad deal for the Pittsburgh Steelers at the time. But Brown saw fit to have a public mental breakdown over a helmet, nearly freeze his feet off in a cryogenic accident and then get credibly accused of sexual assault. He never played a single regular season game for the Silver and Black.

Ruggs was the burner on a team of elite wide receivers at Alabama, which, of course, is why the Raiders picked him over Jerry Jeudy. Las Vegas has always prized speed above all else and when it actually comes with hands and route running talent, even better. Last year with the Crimson Tide, Ruggs caught 40 passes for 746 yards and seven touchdowns. Those are good numbers, but it’s even more impressive when you know he was splitting catches with Jeudy, a guy who caught 77 balls for 1,163 yards and 10 touchdowns.

This is a make-or-break year for quarterback Derek Carr, so he’s going to lean heavily on his rookie star as his other options are Hunter Renfrow, a possession wideout, and Tyrell Williams, a receiver who has one 1,000-yard season in a five-year career.

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