The yearly predictions about the upcoming NFL season have taken on a different angle. Most years there are a few candidates for the toughest division in football- but you can’t say that for this upcoming season. The AFC West is now the best division in football hands down.
Of its four teams; the AFC West has the Kansas City Chiefs as its standard bearer. Their recent success along with the obvious potency of their offense makes the Chiefs the favorite in the division; but not by a wide margin. Especially not after they dealt Tyreek hill to the Dolphins. The reason the Chiefs offense was so potent was because of the threat Tyreek gives you on the back end of a defense. Defenses had to first account for Hill in coverage before anyone else. Forget about all that now. Nobody is necessarily rolling their coverage to Juju Smith Schuster’s side of the field.
The next best team in this division is the Los Angeles Chargers who have significantly improved a defense that was terrible against the run last year. After adding Khalil Mack, the Chargers have the best pass rushing tandem with Mack and Joey Bosa in this quarterback heavy division. Mack is also good against the run. He along with Sebastian Joseph-Day will make the Chargers defense against the run much better. The Chargers also added JC Jackson to a defense that had Derwin James full time for the first time in quite some time. Asante Samuel can potentially man the slot now that Jackson will likely travel with the opponents number one wide receiver. With better coverage options, the Chargers then have better scheme options against the run. All the attention Los Angeles has paid to this defense leaves an already potent offense poised to dominate games.
The Las Vegas Raiders have lured arguably the best receiver in the NFL in Davonte Adams. Even playing in a division that is as stacked as the AFC west is; nobody else has a problem for every defense they face like the Raiders do. Combine who Adams is as a player with the fact that he and Derek Carr played together before and you’ve potentially got a lethal combination that frees up Darren Waller; which in turn frees up Davonte Adams even more then he would have already been. On defense, Chandler Jones and Max Crosby are terrors for opposing quarterbacks. We’ll have to wait and see the mesh in new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s scheme however.
There is no way you can ignore how much the Denver Broncos helped themselves this off-season. Adding Russell Wilson makes the Broncos dangerous but he’ll have to elevate Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy for them to match weapons with the rest of this division. Adding Randy Gregory to play opposite from Bradley Chubb continues the trend throughout a division which saw its other teams also load up on pass rushers. With the Broncos new ownership in place; it’ll be interesting to see the direction of this team.
Considering that these teams all have to play each other twice, the winner of AFC West will be battle tested and more than likely also prolific on offense. The Chiefs downgraded the status of their offense by trading Tyreek Hill. To be quite honest – the Chiefs will have to reinvent their offense especially because Patrick Mahomes is a quarterback who thrives off schedule. Not having Hill coordinating improvisational plays with Mahomes makes the Chiefs way less threatening.
The Chargers retain their offensive playmakers and seem to understand that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Justin Herbert was third in QBR and touchdowns last season and he will only continue to grow. The Chargers made huge strides to improve their defense which makes them the current favorite to win the division.
Since the Raiders will be integrating a new scheme defensively they’ve got an opportunity to be special on that side of the ball with the playmakers they’ve added. Offensively, the Raiders still need a true number two wide receiver and Derek Carr is a good but not great quarterback. At this point, Carr won’t cost you games however he is the fourth best of the four quarterbacks in this division.
Russell Wilson’s impact on the Broncos is a wildcard. The Broncos finally will get consistent play at quarterback but their offensive of weapons leave a bit to be desired. K.J. Hamler has the chance to get back on the field and show what type of weapon he’ll be coming off of the knee and hip injuries he suffered last year.
The gauntlet that is the AFC West is going to be fun to watch. Ultimately, attrition may end up being the deciding factor in a stacked division full of gunslingers. Saying you’ll get four playoff teams from this division is a stretch – but three is realistic and the team left out will end up looking at its quarterback as the potential weakest link.
