AFC West Predictions

By Djack

1. Raiders (10-6)
The Raiders are my sleeper pick to surprise everyone and host a playoff game this year. They have the second best offensive line in the league behind the Cowboys, so I expect Latavius Murray to run wild. Derek Carr keeps getting better and has a very solid wide receiver tandem in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. Oh yeah, they also have a defensive player by the name Khalil Mack that might just win defensive player of the year. This is a very talented young team and I think this is the year they'll break through in the AFC West.

2. Chiefs (10-6)
The Chiefs are just one of those teams, very stale, uninteresting, but fundamentally great. This defense is one of the best in the league, they have a superstar player at each level of it. Alex Smith has proven he's a great game manager that has been improving his passing numbers year after year. Jamal Charles is coming back from a knee injury, it might take him a few weeks to get back to himself, but the Chiefs are so deep at the position that they shouldn't be worried at all. They will run into trouble when playing the Raiders which will keep them from winning the division.

3. Broncos (6-10)
Trevor Sieman. That's the reason the Broncos will be dreadful this year. You don't not win more that 6 games with a guy like Trevor Siemian running your offense. I think John Elway still has his victory googles on because no way he can look at this team and think they'll be just as good as last year. The defense will be good but not anywhere near the caliber they were last year. That's not the problem though, you can't win football games if you can't score, and this offense is going to be nearly unwatchable. A big step back this year for the Broncos as they wait for Paxton Lynch to prepare himself to take over this team.

4. Chargers (5-11)
This team is very very far away from even being relevant again. They have some nice young pieces like Melvin Gordon, Melvin Ingram, and Joey Bosa. They lack difference makers to really help elevate this team to the next level, Phillip Rivers has proven he does not necessarily dictate how well this offense does based on his personal achievements. The Chargers have been irrelevant for some time now and I expect it to stay that way just a little longer.