The AFC West seems to already be won, but is it? Could another team win the West over the Chiefs? We discuss each team’s chances in depth.
It seems like clockwork. The national media picks the L.A. Chargers to win the AFC West and they are wrong. It’s a new season and anything could happen, right? Do the Denver Broncos or the Oakland Raiders also have a shot? It seems unlikely due to how good the Kansas City Chiefs looked last year that anyone truly has a chance to knock them off.
The Broncos, Chargers, and Raiders are interesting football teams with very different playing styles. There are several different paths for each team to win the AFC West.
Here are the paths for each team in the division along with a few predictions:
The Oakland Raiders
Overview:
Oakland is going to be one of the most interesting teams to watch in the NFL this season. After a disappointing start to the Jon Gruden era, the Raiders are destined to have a rebound season.
Just how much better the Raiders will be, however, remains to be seen. Gruden and company will be trying to build the Oakland franchise of old. Hard-nosed, tough football is the name of the game for the team going forward, but will it be enough for a shot at the AFC West?
Offense:
After being a seller at last year’s trade deadline with the trade of Amari Cooper, the Raiders added one of the best receivers in football, Antonio Brown. Then came cryotherapy, the wrong kind of helmet, some black-and-white film, a showdown with Mike Mayock, and ultimately his release. Now he’s catching passes from Tom Brady starting next week.
Besides Antonio Brown, the Steelers also added Tyrell Williams and J.J. Nelson. Williams was an interesting piece of the offense for the Los Angeles Chargers for the last four seasons. With a career tally of 17 touchdowns, it is no secret that the Raiders are looking for Williams to be very productive in the red zone.
As for Nelson, the Raiders are hoping to get the best out of his speed. Although he has underperformed with the Arizona Cardinals, the Raiders believe it may have more to do with the struggles as a team, more than his individual struggles.
The Raiders also brought in Trent Brown on an enormous contract to play as a bookend on the offensive line. The offensive line has a chance to be a very solid unit with former Chiefs center Rodney Hudson on the inside and Brown now on the outside.
After fixing up the offensive line, the Raiders found another interesting piece in the first round of the draft. As many predicted, Jon Gruden couldn’t help himself from drafting Josh Jacobs in the first round with his pick from the Cowboys. Jacobs is a powerful running back that has all the tools to be a very good player for years to come. I would expect Jacobs to surprise people with his actual upside in year one.
Defense:
A black eye for Gruden. After trading away Khalil Mack, the Raiders had more trouble than any team in the NFL getting to the quarterback. Whether the Mack trade was effective or not will soon be known by the production of the players the team has acquired through the draft. The defense has a lot of improvement to make before it has a chance of slowing down the Chiefs and Chargers this season. However, the team has made some improvements to its defensive unit that will be interesting to monitor.
The most talked-about players that the Raiders have added to their defense are the two rookies that they added during the first round of the draft Clelin Ferrell and Johnathan Abram. The pair of them scream, “Mike Mayock!” While I still believe that both players were taken higher than they deserved to be, I have to give credit to the Raiders front office for trying to build a culture of toughness.
Ferrell has all the physical tools to put together a great career but will need quite a bit of development before he is fully ready for the NFL. I projected Ferrell to be in contention for pick 29 before the Chiefs traded the pick away for Frank Clark. Pick 4 was definitely a stretch.
Abram is a more interesting player, to me. As far as safeties go, Abram is one of the most physical safeties to come out of college in the last five years. That being said, Abram is likely the team’s third safety behind newcomer Lamarcus Joyner and physical specimen Karl Joseph. It appears that the Raiders have a slow defensive overhaul in the works.
Adding along to the idea of toughness, the Raiders added linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who will make the Raiders run defense better immediately. Additionally, newcomer Johnathan Hankins will be a difficult force to reckon with on the inside of that defensive line.
Projected top performers:
RB Josh Jacobs
WR Antonio Brown
S Lamarcus Joyner
Last season’s finish:
4-12 (4th)
This season’s projected finish:
6-10 (3rd)
The Raiders have added some nice pieces to the offense. In fact, I think they have a chance of winning more games than many expect. Unfortunately for Oakland, they still have not done enough to fix their pass-rushing woes or their troubles on the back end of the defense.
While they have the potential to be a solid team in the future, 2019 is not going to be the year for the Raiders to take the next step; however, they will be an improved football team.