In this last episode we talked about the AFC West division, and I started to think about what the outlook will be. We all believe that the Kansas City Chiefs will win the division, and, in my opinion, the Raiders will be last. So here are my rankings.
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Denver Broncos
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Las Vegas Raiders
There’s no need to talk about the Chiefs because we know what and who they are especially because they picked up one of my favorite former Longhorns Xavier Worthy. They won this previous season’s Super Bowl and are the predominant favorite to do it again. Honestly, the Broncos and Chargers are a toss-up and could be a pick em in my opinion.
I put Denver at two simply because Sean Payton has been there for a year and has installed his offense and defense. My concern is his quarterback situation. Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson, and rookie Bo Nix. Bo Nix lit up his preseason debut. But would Payton start a rookie quarterback who is probably better than his other two options? We’ve seen rookie QBs have success right out of the gate. But it’s a little bit different when you know who the division winner is and you can fight for a wild card spot. All while letting your rookie QB stay off the field and develop him for the next year. We believe that Payton will bring success to Broncos nation, but will they allow him the time to do what he needs to do? The team has been so desperate for success since their last Super Bowl that it permeates the air, and if Payton doesn’t deliver soon. His head will be on the coaching chopping block.
Now moving on to the Chargers, I think they’ll have a decent season considering who they have. Justin Herbert at QB, Joey Bosa on the defensive side, tie that up with Jim Harbaugh taking over the helm. There should be a lot of upsides to this team. I think the biggest thing is that there will be a new system installed and that takes time. The learning curve to try and get everything down over the offseason is hard enough. If they could keep the ship afloat from beginning to mid-season and get the whole system down by then, the Chargers could be in a position to make a late push to a spot in the playoffs. Out of these two teams, I will be interested if they can challenge the Chiefs. I don’t know if they can beat them since that’s such a tall task but how far are yall behind from them or are you closer than what we think?
Lastly, we have the Las Vegas Raiders, and I don’t know what direction they are going. I don’t know what they are doing at quarterback, I have questions about Aidan O’connell, they have Maxx Crosby and Devonte Adams but did lose Josh Jacobs. I’m excited for Antonio Pierce to get his opportunity to have a head coaching job. But I think that they don’t have any direction where they want to go with the team after everything that happened last season. The only thing that we do know is that Pierce would like to instill the Raider’s tenacity in the team that they had all those years ago. This division could feel real Game of Thrones-like, real fast, and could be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
