NFL.com says AFC West belongs to Raiders

Over at NFL.com, the Oakland Raiders are getting tons of love.

Adam Schein is a respected NFL writer and the host of Inside the NFL, one of the best shows on television. On Friday, he released a column explaining that the Oakland Raiders are going to dethrone the Denver Broncos in the AFC West.

Perhaps most interesting is his AFC rankings. He has the New England Patriots at the top, followed by the Houston Texans, Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers.

It’s hard to understand that logic. New England is liekly the best team in the conference but the Texans? Why? Houston added Brock Osweiler and Lamar Miller. That is hardly a pair of transactions that screams Super Bowl contender.

Meanwhile, Oakland is a good team but still has many holes. People always look at the rosters in preseaosn and think that starters will play 16 games. What happens if Latavius Murray or Khalil Mcak get hurt? What if Reggie Nelson and Bruce Irvin can’t play 16 games?

The Kansas City Chiefs already know they have depth in ample areas to withstand something like that. We watched Justin Houston, Jamaal Charles, Phillip Gaines, Ben Grubbs, Mitch Morse, Husain Abdullah and Tamba Hali go down for long stretches of last season, and Kansas City kept rolling.

Oakland deserves to get publicity and maybe even warrants playoff talk. But the best in the West? Good luck with that.