No one is sleeping on the Chargers — even if they haven't won AFC West in nine years

Jarrett Bell | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Observations from Chargers-Saints joint practice From Chargers camp, NFL insider Jarrett Bell details their joint practice with the Saints and discusses who got the better deal: Rivers or Brees.

COSTA MESA, Calif. — It's so tempting to consider Philip Rivers and Co. the consummate sleeper team.

The Los Angeles Chargers came on strong down the stretch last season but still missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker. They play in a division, the AFC West, where the other teams are rolling with high-profile changes. And the Bolts are overshadowed in their huge market by the sizzling Rams, LeBron James, UCLA, USC, Hollywood and, well, the beaches, too.

But one problem with the sleeper theme: The Chargers are now supposed to be the team to beat.

“It’s weird,” Rivers, the club's longtime quarterback, told USA TODAY Sports following a joint practice with the not-so-sleepy New Orleans Saints. “I always thought it was nice when we were under the radar. But this year, it’s been a little more where people are talking up the Chargers.

“I think we know. I don’t think we’ll fall into the hype.”

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Sometimes, things can move rather quickly in the NFL — like how quickly the Chargers have gained a bullseye on their backs. No matter. This must play itself out, starting with the regular-season opener against the defending division champion Kansas City Chiefs and their new quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.

If the Chargers are truly on the rise, they must also live up to the expectations. Now is not the time for a young team to get full of itself.

“To win the division, we’ve got to go through Kansas City,” Anthony Lynn, the second-year coach, told USA TODAY Sports. “Through Oakland. Through Denver. I like this team, but you can’t crown us because we haven’t done anything yet.”

Still, there’s so much to like. Rivers, 36, passed for 4,515 yards and 28 TDs in 2017 and is still capable of being one of the league’s most productive passers. The players are resilient, never quitting on Lynn after starting 0-4 before winning nine of 12. The defense has a pair of dynamic edge rushers in Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram. The O-line has a new fireball in Mike Pouncey.

It would be just like a sleeper team to have a center — Pouncey's dirty work in the trenches attracts little, if any, of the notice heaped on the stars at glamour positions — represent the biggest offseason free agent acquisition.

Yet Lynn, a former running back who won back-to-back Super Bowl rings with the Broncos, beamed when assessing what Pouncey means to the bigger picture.

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“He’s an alpha dog,” Lynn said. “I love his leadership and those intangibles.”

Like the grit to make a difference in short-yardage situations, which was such an issue last year.

Then there’s Mike Williams, a first-round receiver last year who missed all of training camp and the first five games of the season while dealing with a back injury. He caught just 11 passes for 95 yards while playing catch-up all season.

But Williams had an amazing 25-yard TD catch in the exhibition win against the Seahawks on Saturday, when he jumped over a defender in the end zone. It was the latest acrobatic play the 6-4 target has produced after doing it regularly in training camp. The Chargers need him to provide a red-zone threat after losing emerging tight end Hunter Henry to a torn ACL.

Rivers, who came to camp wondering whether Williams would be consistent, is convinced.

“We’ve seen the flashes of big plays,” he said. “But can he do it every day? He’s pretty much shown us that.”

With crafty and productive Keenan Allen on the other side of Williams and Melvin Gordon running behind the line bolstered by Pouncey, Rivers seemingly has his best supporting cast in years.

“But then, that’s all potential,” he said.

There’s still a significant question about a run defense that was the AFC's worst in 2017. As much as Lynn believes the culture established last year will carry over, that inability to stop the run can’t carry over.

A full season from linebacker Denzel Perryman (who missed the first nine games last season) is essential, while rookie Kyzir White will get his chances. First-round safety Derwin James, who just began working with the starters, should be another huge factor. That he has been compared to Kam Chancellor, who starred in coordinator Gus Bradley’s scheme in Seattle, is yet another major expectation.

“I think we’re really close,” said Rivers when considering the entire cast. “This is as close, collectively, as we’ve been to those rosters in ’06, ’07.”

With LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates in tow, the Chargers produced an NFL-best 14-2 record in 2006. The next season, they advanced to the AFC title game. But that’s ancient history. Rivers is the only player left from the 2009 unit that was the last Chargers team to win the AFC West.

“That tells me two things,” Rivers said. “Guys don’t play forever, and that’s too dang long to not win the division. So let’s go win the stinking division.”

Sleepers or not, here they come.

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Follow NFL columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell

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