For the past five years, the Denver Broncos have been dominating the AFC West. In some of those years, the San Diego Chargers or the Kansas City Chiefs have given them some competition but it has been the Broncos, even when lead by Tim Tebow, who won the division. That is all about to change in the coming years as the up and coming Chiefs and Raiders will both start to fight for the crown. Here is a list of reasons why I believe the Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders will be fighting for the crown as long as the division isn’t shaken up over the Rams moving to Los Angeles.
Reason number 1: Youth
The Chiefs and Raiders have relatively young players on their teams that can help build a foundation to winning seasons. Derek Carr, Amari Cooper and even Michael Crabtree as well can be a lethal combination in the coming years. And even though Alex Smith might be a little older, Jeremy Maclin is still pretty young and Chris Conley has the potential to develop into a pretty good receiver as well. Oakland also has Latavius Murray as their lead back and he still has a few years left to be productive. Kansas City does have a dynamic running back in Jamaal Charles but his future right now is hard to tell. He has been one of the best backs in the NFL when he is healthy but he is coming back from another ACL tear and is 29 years old which is not a good age for a running back. Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware have shown this year that they can be capable running backs in the NFL and if there is one thing the Chiefs are able to find talent in, it is running back.
Reason number 2: Defense
Everyone knows the old adage that defense wins championships. If you watched either the Chiefs or the Raiders play this year they both did well on that side of the ball. Khalil Mack might be one of the best defensive players I have seen in recent years and Justin Houston, when healthy, can ball out. If Aldon Smith can get his act together, which is a huge if, the Raiders defense could become a force to be reckoned with. It will remind people of the old Raiders teams back in the day. They will have to replace the ageless wonder, Charles Woodson, in the offseason and that will be difficult but Jack Del Rio has always been a good defensive coach and I am sure he will find a replacement who can somewhat fill Woodson’s shoes. As far as the Chiefs go, they have a possible defensive rookie of the year in Marcus Peters along with Eric Berry who beat cancer and came back to play at a Pro Bowl level. Berry makes an easy argument for comeback player of the year.
Reason number 3: Coaching
Andy Reid and Jack Del Rio might be two of the best coaches in the league. They are not at a Bill Belichick level by any means but they are coaches who have experience winning in the league. Now I am not going to deny that Andy Reid does have issues with clock management and sometimes he gets too creative for his own good. However, there are still plenty of teams that would really want him as a coach. Del Rio did a pretty good job as the Jaguars head coach and also did pretty well building up the Denver defense into the juggernaut it is today.
These are the top three reasons I believe that the AFC West will see a power shift over the next couple of years. Denver will put up a pretty good fight though since they will still have a strong defense and head coach Gary Kubiak can get quarterback Brock Osweiler to run his type of offense and be effective. Also on those same lines, as long as the Chargers still have Phillip Rivers they will put up a good fight but there does seem to be some growing tensions between the Chargers front office and a lot of their key players.
Keep an eye out for the AFC West the next few years. Things should get interesting.
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