Laddie Morse
The Chiefs will win the AFC West once again as they have already won the 2024 NFL Draft. One leads to the other. With the Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach winning at these critical turning points of the offseason, it so often leads to the team being in a position to win it all later in the season. Let’s take a look at the four teams in the AFC West and a video explanation of their process.
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Las Vegas Raiders
What surprises me a bit is that the Raiders GM Tom Telesco started his press conference with “I’m fried right now.” Here is that Press Conference in part (1:23).
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Here are the choices the Raiders made in the draft:
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Leadership starts at the top and I don’t believe the Raiders have the right leadership to take this team out of the 8-and-9 quagmire they call second place.
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Denver Broncos
It’s hard to believe that the Denver Broncos have given up on QB Russell Wilson at quarterback when there is so much money at stake. The Broncos are all in on supporting HC Sean Payton because they have made perhaps the worst trade in the history of the NFL by sending Wilson to the Steelers while paying $39M of his salary to play for them this season. Sure, the Steelers have to pay Wilson the vet minimum at $1.21 M but that’s nothing compared to the huge sum the Broncos will be coughing up this year.
The Broncos management must be convinced that HC Sean Payton will lead them to another Super Bowl like he did for the New Orleans Saints. You may remember that game… the Saints made an on-sides kick right after halftime, a kick which they recovered against the Indianapolis Colts in SB XLIV, a game they won 31-to-17. When a coach gets to the Super Bowl, owners and management start to drool, like Clark Hunt did when he hired Andy Reid. The difference is, Reid has won three SBs with K.C. in ten seasons.
Here’s Sean Payton evaluating the Broncos’ Draft class (2:57):
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Here are the Broncos Picks:
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In 2023, the Broncos tied for second place in the AFC West with am 8-and-9 record. I’ll be surprised if they reach that record this coming season.
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Los Angeles Chargers
It’s surprising to me that the Chargers were last place in the AFC West with a 5-and-12 record. Especially when you consider all the national pundits who picked them to win the West, and the Super Bowl as well. Now, they’ve hired Jim Harbaugh to coach the team and with as often as he likes o run the ball… when the run-first approach doesn’t work in the NFL anymore, not when you get to the playoffs — I’ll be surprised if he leads them out of the cellar of the AFC West.
Harbaugh is smart enough to know that this method isn’t working, so I’ll be equally surprised if he doesn’t change his approach mid-season and at least throw it as much as he runs it. Still, I don’t see that working for him. Here’s a clip on the Chargers draft (8:57):
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Here are the Chargers 2024 draft picks:
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While the Chargers drafted a couple of my favorite players in this draft — Joe Alt and Ladd McConkey — I doubt they’ll ever be able to achieve what they would have if K.C. had drafted them. The Chargers General Manager Joe Hortiz said after the draft, from chargers.com:
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“These players fit the Chargers profile, and we really believe all nine of these guys do. You want high-character players, you want highly competitive players, passionate players, intelligent, durable, tough. Guys that care about each other. And I can really say that about every one of them.”
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So many pundits seem to pick the Chargers in the offseason on a yearly basis, but even if they can improve by six games this season — which seems highly unlikely — they’ll have created their first chance to go to the playoffs in two seasons. Although the feature graphic for this article has the Chargers at the bottom of the AFC West, it’s only situated that way because that’s where they finished up the 2023 season… at the bottom of the AFC West. Will they over take the Chiefs this year in 2024? I’d be shocked if that happens.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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