NFL: AFC West Standings Predictions for the 2018 Season

The AFC West is the NFC East of the AFC. It seems that no matter what happens, NFL fans know that when the Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, and Los Angeles Chargers play each other, you are getting a good game. Lately, the trend has been that you need to win over ten games to win the division. The 2011 Denver Broncos were the last team to win the AFC West and have less than 10 wins. In 2011, they went 8-8. Going from 4 to 1, I will lay out how I predict the AFC West will play out.

4 – Oakland Raiders (4-12)

For starters, they have a new head coach in Jon Gruden. He originally was the head coach from 1998-2001. Football back then is much different from the way it is now. In addition, the longer Khalil Mack holds out for, it could end up being a dark cloud over the team for the season. Derek Carr is coming back from major surgery, so you don’t know how well he will do. The pieces are there for the Raiders, but the question will be if Gruden utilizes them the right way.

3 – Kansas City Chiefs (6-10)

The Chiefs had a decent 2017 season. However, Alex Smith is no longer the QB as he is now with the Washington Redskins. They will be turning to Patrick Mahomes. He ended up making one start last year in a week 17 win over the Denver Broncos. The play of Mahomes in that game is what made the Alex Smith trade to Washington a possibility. Due to essentially a rookie QB starting this year, Andy Reid would be right to have Kareem Hunt get more attempts to run with the ball. Your first five opponents are top in defense, it won’t be easy at all.

2 – Denver Broncos (8-8)

The biggest question for the Broncos will be the play of QB Case Keenum. He played well for the Vikings last year, but who knows if that was a flash in the pan. However, the Broncos do have a top ten front seven that includes guys like Von Miller, rookie Bradley Chubb, and Shane Ray. If the Broncos can win the division, it will be on the play of the defense.

1 – Los Angles Chargers (10-6)

This seems to be the only team in this division that doesn’t have a ton of questions heading into the season. Expect the duo of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram to continue to become a great pass rushing duo. If Philip Rivers doesn’t start to show signs of slowing down, then this team will be tough to beat. However, they do need to work on the running game a bit. In 2017, the Chargers were 24th in the league. If they want to be in the category with the Steelers, Patriots, and others; they need to fix that this upcoming season.

How do you feel about the AFC West? Leave a comment below.

Tweets by jon_blayne