Pro Football Focus predicts Chargers will win AFC West

Mike Clay of Pro Football Focus has released his preseason predictions saying the Los Angeles Chargers will win the AFC West.

The Los Angeles Chargers are first. The Oakland Raiders are second. The Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos round out the four teams in the AFC West in order in Mike Clay’s predictions for the 2017 NFL season. The Pro Football Focus analyst clearly doesn’t think highly of the Chiefs offseason, or he believes their schedule will simply be too difficult to overcome.

In his latest rankings, he has two playoff teams coming out of the West, the Chargers and Raiders. Both teams with the best overall defenses in the division are sitting at home in a sport where the best overall defenses are found playing in January. It’s an interesting twist that doesn’t seem ridiculously far-fetched—as in the Browns and Jets making the playoffs—given that the division is definitely a very competitive one top to bottom. That said, Clay is clearly smoking something.

Even worse would be the outcome for the draft order, which he also predicts and puts the Chiefs at No. 11 overall. Imagine the response if the Chiefs traded their 2018 first round pick to move up to around that very spot to get their quarterback only to have that sort of slot the following season (and a much better overall crop of quarterbacks available). Suffice it to say, it would be a miserable offseason that follows a miserable regular season.

The Chiefs definitely face an uphill climb to win their second straight division title, but they’re definitely as good as anyone else in the AFC West.