AFC West rivals get back to work with offseason workouts

Given that the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders decided to hand over the keys to organizational leadership to new faces this offseason, those teams also have the opportunity to get a headstart on offseason workouts before anyone else in the AFC West.

This week, players for both teams—on a voluntary basis only, thanks to the league’s collective bargaining agreement—will gather at team facilities to begin a series of offseason workouts, beginning on Monday. It will be the first time that the Broncos and Raiders will conduct official business with Nathaniel Hackett and Josh McDaniels at the helm, respectively.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers will join a bit later in the spring, each with their own offseason program stretching nine full weeks and including three phases. It’s just that their divisional rivals will get a bit of a head start—that is, if the teams elected to do so—and the Raiders and Broncos both decided to get moving on Monday, April 11, along with four other teams: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Minnesota Vikings.

Half of the teams in the AFC West are back to work this week on a voluntary basis as the Broncos and Raiders adjust to new head coaches.

For both the Broncos and Raiders, it’s going to be a very interesting week as new parts come together to try to develop the sort of chemistry and overall organizational plan to upset the pecking order within the West. No division has been locked down in NFL history like the West is at present with K.C. up top, but the Chiefs look as fragile as they have in years while the West looks stronger than ever.

For the Raiders, McDaniels will himself be a key figure to watch as a longtime Patriots assistant who waited to accept a job offer that he finally felt right about—including accepting and then rejecting the Indianapolis Colts a few years ago. Alongside McDaniels, the trade for Davante Adams, another trade for cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, and the signing of Chandler Jones give the team several exciting new faces to watch for—assuming everyone reports for workouts.

As for Denver, the team’s ability to finally land a franchise quarterback will have fans excited all week long as Russell Wilson takes his new place as the team leader at Mile High. It also doesn’t hurt to add Randy Gregory and D.J. Jones along the defensive line and Billy Turner to bolster the offensive front.

As for the Chiefs and Chargers, they get started one week from now on April 18. Keep your expectations low for all of this, however, as the first two weeks of every team’s offseason training is only about strength and conditioning as well as team meetings.