AFC West Preview

The Sports Guys have been on a blogging hiatus for most of the summer. Nothing like NFL Camps starting to pull us back in. It’s time to predict the upcoming NFL season. Yesterday we covered the AFC East. Today we’ll look at the AFC West. We will cover a different division each day this week and next.

AFC West

Division Winner: Denver Broncos

Division Cellar: Oakland Raiders

Other Playoff Teams: San Diego Chargers – Wildcard #1 (Greg and Andrew)

1. Denver Broncos

2. San Diego Chargers

3. Kansas City Chiefs

4. Oakland Raiders

Andrew – This is clearly the best division in the AFC, as they have the best team in the conference (Broncos), and two wildcard teams from last year (Chiefs and Chargers). Even the Raiders have a chance to be decent with some of their moves this offseason. Despite that, there is a definitive top team, and that team is led by Peyton Manning.

Greg - The Broncos have improved on offense, even with the loss of Eric Decker, and they should be better in Peyton Manning year #3. Every team improved with the exception of Kansas City who I think got a little worse with all of the players they lost. Oakland had an excellent draft, and has a chance to make the playoffs with a few wins over San Diego and Kansas City.

Preseason Division Awards

Offensive MVP: Peyton Manning (Denver) – This was the obvious answer, even though he won’t match last year’s totals.

Defensive MVP: Justin Houston (Kansas City) – Many good options, but Houston helps anchor the division’s best defensive unit.

Rookies to Watch: Khalil Mack (Oakland), Cody Latimer (Denver), De’Anthony Thomas (Kansas City), Jason Verrett (San Diego)

Free Agents to Watch: DeMarcus Ware (Denver), Maurice Jones-Drew (Oakland), Donald Brown (San Diego), Emmanuel Sanders (Denver)

By: The Sports Guys