Quarterback play often holds back fantasy options in this division. And that may very well be the case in 2018.

Case Keenum is clearly an upgrade to Trevor Siemian , but how much of an upgrade is of debate.

Patrick Mahomes has a big arm, but so far in camp most the buzz surrounds his tendency to throw interceptions. At an alarming rate.

Philip Rivers has always been the side-arm kind of thrower, but is he running out of gas in that tank?

And Derek Carr is always supposed to “break out,” but below you’ll read about how it never really happens. And he’s been in the league for four years…

The good news is that almost all of the players in the AFC West are already at a fantasy discount, with the risk factor built into their modest ADPs. But before you go discount shopping, make sure you know the facts.

DENVER BRONCOS

On September 9, 1960, the Denver Broncos played in the first ever American Football League regular season game. They played the Boston Patriots. The Broncos won 13-10.

Case Keenum tied for the fourth best accuracy percentage in the league last year, behind only Drew Brees , Alex Smith and Matt Ryan .

Devontae Booker will start the season listed as the starting running back, but over his two-year career he’s only averaged 3.6 yards per carry and scored six total touchdowns.

Royce Freeman is the lead rusher in Oregon history. In 2017, he broke 51 tackles on 243 carries and gained an average 3.4 yards after contact.

Demaryius Thomas is the only active wide receiver in the NFL to have five consecutive seasons (from 2012 to 2016) with 1,000-plus receiving yards while another wide receiver ALSO put up 1,000-plus receiving yards in each of those years. In 2012 and 2013, Eric Decker put up 1,000-plus yards. And in 2014, 2015, and 2016 it was Emmanuel Sanders who put up 1,000-plus yards.

You may not remember, but Emmanuel Sanders suffered a rather significant ankle sprain in Week 6 against the New York Giants. He missed four games total in 2017 and caught 47 passes for 555 yards and two touchdowns. In his other three seasons with the Broncos, he averaged 85.3 catches, 1,190.3 yards, and 6.7 touchdowns per year. One of his 1,000-plus yard seasons was during a Peyton Manning/Brock Osweiler hybrid year. Another was a Trevor Siemian year. A Case Keenum year doesn’t look so scary now…

The Denver Broncos took Courtland Sutton with the 40th overall pick in the draft this year. He scored 22 touchdowns over his final two years in college. That is the same amount that Davante Adams scored in 2016 and 2017 combined, which leads the NFL over that span.

The Broncos drafted another wide receiver who should be on your watch list. DaeSean Hamilton is a four-year starter and Penn State’s all-time leader in receptions (214) and second in receiving yards (2,842). The Broncos targeted him because they were very impressed with his route running when working with him during this year’s Senior Bowl.

Entering the league as a third-round pick during the 2015 NFL Draft, Jeff Heuerman never went over 142 total yards or two touchdowns in a season. In fact, undrafted Austin Trayor played more offensive snaps, 179 to Heuerman’s 139, over the final five games of the 2017 season. Heuerman is also sitting out a portion of the preseason with a sore knee.

Jake Butt sat out all of 2017 season rehabbing after suffering a torn ACL in the Orange Bowl. He is both Michigan’s all-time leader receiving in yards by a tight end (1,646) and receptions at the position (136).

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

The Kansas City Chiefs hold the NFL record for the most consecutive home playoff losses (6). They also sent off their 2017 starting quarterback, Alex Smith , to the Washington Redskins for Kendall Fuller and a third-round draft pick.

In 2017, the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes II in the first round. He played in one game last year, Week 17 at Denver. He posted 22 completions for 284 yards and an interception. He threw eight interceptions over his first seven days of training camp. He also threw 29 interceptions in 32 collegiate starts at Texas Tech.

Kareem Hunt was last year’s rushing leader with 1,327 yards on the ground. Somehow, he pulled that off despite getting 10 or fewer carries in four games last year. He didn’t score a touchdown from Week 4 through Week 13. However, from Weeks 14 to 16, Hunt was the third highest scoring running back in the league only behind Todd Gurley and Le’Veon Bell.

Over the course of 14 games in 2016, Spencer Ware carried the ball 214 times for 921 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught 33 passes for 447 yards and two more touchdowns. Once he tore his PCL and LCL in August of last year, it was the Hunt show. But now he’s back and perhaps the most valuable handcuff in the league. You know, like Hunt was a year earlier…

Tyreek Hill led the league with nine catches of 40-plus yards. He did that on only 105 targets, which was tied for the 29th most in the league. He had only four red zone targets all last year, and still he scored seven touchdowns.

Last year with the Los Angeles Rams, Sammy Watkins scored eight times on only 70 targets. But he only caught 39 of those targets and posted only 593 yards. He’s also missed 12 games over the last three years and is already dealing with a hip injury.

Demarcus Robinson caught all four of his targets for 57 yards and a touchdown during the final drive of the second half of the Chief’s Wild Card loss to the Titans. He also scored the first touchdown of the preseason. He’s the projected WR3 on the depth chart.

Travis Kelce is the only tight end in the league with 1,000-plus receiving yards in each of the last two seasons. In 2017, only Rob Gronkowski stood with Kelce in that stat line. In 2016, Olsen also hit that mark. However, Travis Kelce suffered two concussions during the 2017 season. The next man up would be Demetrius Harris and he’s suspended for the first game of the season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. It was weed…

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

My interesting fact about this team is that they should be the San Diego Chargers… even though a lot of people don’t know that they started their existence in Los Angeles. But frankly, it was just for one year, they realized their mistake, and they moved to San Diego.

Again, still salty…

From Weeks 1 to 3, Philip Rivers scored the 23rd most fantasy points among quarterbacks. From Weeks 14 to 16 he scored the 17th most points. Philip Rivers scores a lot of fantasy points because he hasn’t missed a game since 2005. Admittedly, that is irrationally impressive.

Third year’s a charm. For the first time in his career, Melvin Gordon played in all 16 games during the 2017 season. He posted career highs in all categories. 1,105 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. 58 catches for 476 yards and four receiving touchdowns. He played in 70-percent of the team’s offensive snaps. Only four running backs played in more: LeVeon Bell, Ezekiel Elliott , Todd Gurley , and Carlos Hyde .

Austin Ekeler remains the handcuff, but his two ill-timed fumbles cost the Chargers two games. Justin Jackson sits behind Ekeler, but it looks like Jackson would need to have a killer preseason to jump ahead on the depth chart.

After years of struggling with non-connected injuries, Keenan Allen finally played in all 16 games. In those games, he played in 84 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. He was named Associated Press 2017 Comeback Player of the Year. He also saw a league-high 24 red zone targets, while only converting four.

The Los Angeles Charges took Mike Williams as the seventh overall pick in 2017. He didn’t play in the first five games due to a back injury, and he wasn’t ever fully healthy, finishing his rookie season with just 11 catches for 95 yards and no touchdowns. However, during his last season at Clemson, he caught 98 passes for 1,361 yards and 11 touchdowns. Most analysts believe that the Chargers will rely on 3 WR sets more with Hunter Henry out for the season.

Tyrell Williams is currently listed as the starting wide receiver along with Keenan Allen on the depth chart. Williams was signed by the Chargers in 2015 as an undrafted free agent. In 2016, he caught 69 passes for 1,059 yards, and seven touchdowns. However, in 2017, he only caught 43 passes for 728 yards and four touchdowns.

Travis Benjamin ’s best season was in 2015, when he caught 68 passes for 966 yards and five touchdowns. He hasn’t crossed 677 yards or scored more than four touchdowns since. All of his basic stat lines (targets, catches, yards) dropped each of the last three seasons.

Virgil Green is currently the top tight end on the depth chart. Green has never had more than 237 yards or scored more than one touchdown in a season. Many believe that the team will attempt to sign Antonio Gates to one more season after losing Hunter Henry for the year due to a torn ACL.

OAKLAND RAIDERS

Back in 1960, the Oakland Raiders were the Señors. They only changed it because they couldn’t perform the accent mark for the n in the local newspaper’s headline type.

Derek Carr has never eclipsed 4,000 passing yards in a season. Or a rushing touchdown. Ever. He’s been in the league for four years.

Marshawn Lynch took 2016 off from football, but he came back and still put up over 1,000 yards from scrimmage. On just the fourth play of the first preseason game, Marshawn Lynch ripped off a 60-yard touchdown run. The play was called back on a holding penalty against offensive tackle, Kolton Miller. Head coach John Gruden joked after the game that when all of this went down, “Chucky came out.” And now we can all be reminded that Jon Gruden looks like the horror movie doll, Chucky.

Doug Martin is Marshawn Lynch ’s handcuff. Martin hasn’t put up over 555 total yards from scrimmage since 2015. That was also the last year he averaged more than 2.9 yards per carry.

Both DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard are still on the depth chart, but with a new coaching staff they are very low in the pecking order. And to complicate matters, undrafted rookie running back, Chris Warren , was impressive in the preseason opener when he carried the ball 13 times for 86 yards.

Last year Amari Cooper went over 70 yards twice all year. One of those performances landed in Week 17. In eight games, he didn’t put up 35 or more yards. In five games, he didn’t even put up 10. He did score four touchdowns in his last five games played.

Jordy Nelson entered the league in 2008, the first year that Aaron Rodgers was the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. Starting in 2011, Nelson put up 1,257-plus receiving yards in all but one of five seasons, until last year when he had to play without Rodgers for most the season. In 2017, Nelson only caught 53 passes for 482 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games. This year, he plays with Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders traded for Ryan Switzer from the Cowboys during the draft in April. He scored the first touchdown for the Raiders in their preseason debut, and reportedly, his slot receiving role is solidified.  During his senior year of college, Switzer set University of North Carolina’s school single-season record with 96 receptions, 1,112 yards and scored six touchdowns. He left school as the career record holder for receptions and yards.

Reportedly, Martavis Bryant isn’t catching onto the playbook and is playing with the second team. Many believed that Bryant would breakout last year, coming back off a year suspension due to violating the illegal substance policy. But bouncing back is difficult, and he only caught 50 passes for 603 yards and three touchdowns while rookie JuJu Smith-Schuester broke out and became the WR2 for the Steelers behind Antonio Brown .

Jared Cook is still the starting tight end for the Oakland Raiders. Last year he caught 54 passes for 688 yards and two touchdowns. Only once has he scored more than four touchdowns in a season, but never more than five. And last season was the first time since 2014 that he put up more than 481 yards.