Horse Tracks: AFC West offseason expectations

Big changes are afoot in the AFC West. The Chargers added Mike McDaniel, who instantly puts the offseason media darlings back to their natural offseason role as AFC West front-runners for no logical reason or results-based thinking whatsoever. Justin Herbert is going to be reborn and rain destructio

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What is the story about?

Big changes are afoot in the AFC West. The Chargers added Mike McDaniel, who instantly puts the offseason media darlings back to their natural offseason role as AFC West front-runners for no logical reason or results-based thinking whatsoever. Justin Herbert is going to be reborn and rain destruction upon the NFL now that he has a proper offensive coordinator.

The Las Vegas Raiders signed Captain Moneybags himself Kirk Cousins. While Cousins isn’t igniting division-leading talk, he does make that

team a legitimate threat. In a perfect world, he will provide the team with a sound quarterback until their new rookie phenom Fernando Mendoza comes up to speed.

Finally, the Kansas City Chiefs talked Travis Kelce into returning. Their poor roster management has them with holes all over the place, but with Patrick Mahomes still at quarterback, they will be looking to get back on top of the division. Assuming Mahomes can get back the accuracy he lost last season, they will be given division-leading credit before a snap is taken to start the season.

Meanwhile, the Broncos went an uncommon direction this year and decided to largely keep the same roster as much as possible from 2025. Most teams usually find greener grass in multiple spots. Other than a big trade for some much-needed wide receiver talent, Sean Payton and Vance Joseph know they have a great thing and are all in on defending the crown against these media-favorite upstarts.

I expect the media will be putting the Broncos back in their typical position of not getting credit for what they accomplished last year and instead getting tons of skepticism on their ability to have a winning season. I feel like that’s a comfortable position for this team to be in. It was that way all through last season until either the #1 seed in the playoffs was clinched or they beat the Bills.