Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs offense is good. What else is there to know? Patrick Mahomes is the most accomplished QB ever under the age of 25, he’s won a Super Bowl and a league MVP and it wasn’t in the same season. He runs an offense that was tailor-made for his skill set, which is pretty much every skill you could want a QB to have. No lead is safe against the Chiefs, they proved that in the playoffs last year. They replaced Damien Williams (who opted out for the year because of COVID-19-19) with a better version named Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Edwards-Helaire is a dynamo and he fits nicely with WRs Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman and TE Travis Kelce to make the Chiefs the most dynamic offense in football. The offensive line also lost a starter at RG to a COVID-19 opt out but replaced him with a Kelechi Osemele who should be able to squeeze one more good season out of himself since he’s only 31. The rest of the line is intact and they were pretty good last year. Eric Fisher isn’t the best LT in the league but Mitchell Schwartz might be the best RT in the NFL.
The Chiefs defense isn’t great but when your offense is one of the best the NFL has ever seen it really doesn’t matter as much. That said, they did improve considerably last year over the year before and that is why they won the Super Bowl instead of losing in the playoffs. Mahomes can erase a lot of mistakes but this defense has some players on it now. DE Frank Clark and DT Chris Jones make life hard at the line of scrimmage and keep opposing QBs from feeling too comfortable. S Tyrann Mathieu is a demon in the secondary and I’ll be interested to see what rookie LB Willie Gay can bring to the table. He’s not a well-known player but he brings an athletic skill set to the defense they simply don’t have at that level. This Chiefs defense is never going to be the ’85 Bears or Ray Lewis’ Ravens but as long as Patrick Mahomes is slinging it on offense, they don’t need to be.
This team is the favorite to repeat as Super Bowl champs and I would have a hard time betting against them. They added an even more dynamic RB to their already dynamic offense and kept DT Chris Jones around. Mahomes got a mega-deal to stay in KC and that should please all Chiefs fans for a good long time. Andy Reid was having fun last year and it looks like he’ll stick around a little while longer and that’s very good news.
Denver Broncos
It’s no secret the Broncos are turning the offense over to QB Drew Lock. They would have done it sooner but he has some injury issues and things just didn’t go that well early in his rookie year. He looked much better later in the season and they are surrounding him with talent to aid his development. The team already possessed a top WR in Courtland Sutton, a good RB in Phillip Lindsay and they like the potential of last year’s rookie TE Noah Fant, but that wasn’t enough. They drafted Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler to complement Sutton at WR. Jeudy is a favorite of mine and Hamler could be really good if used correctly. They signed Melvin Gordan at RB and that’s an excellent addition at a very reasonable cost. Then they added Drew Lock’s favorite target from his college days, TE Albert Okwuegbunam (I’m calling Albert O from now on). They even revamped the offensive line with interior players Lloyd Cushenberry III (drafted in round 3) and Graham Glasgow (signed as a free agent). Then they signed veteran Demar Dotson to compete at RT with Elijah Wilkinson to replace Ja’Wuan James who opted out for the year. There is no reason this offense shouldn’t be good.
The Broncos defense added some serious talent to their 3-man front in DE Jurrell Casey. Casey had been a mainstay for the Titans for years and was excellent for a long time. He’s 30 years old and was getting a little expensive for the Titans so they moved him to Denver. He still has some gas in the tank and he should improve the Broncos up front. This defense is still built around OLB Von Miller but Miller is 31 and pass rushers don’t always age well. The Broncos know they are running out of time to make the most of Miller on this defense. Miller’s partner on the other side is Bradley Chubb, after a really good rookie year Chubb missed most of last season. They need him to rebound because the secondary has taken a step back. A good pass rush would offset some of the issues in the secondary so Miller and Chubb wreaking havoc is necessary for the team’s success. Denver lost Chris Harris in free agency and traded for AJ Bouye as his replacement. Bouye will need to step his game back up after faltering in Jacksonville. The team gets Bryce Callahan back after he missed last year. He’s best suited to the interior so they still need another outside CB. Rookie Michael Ojemudia would have had a prime opportunity for the job but he’s missed a lot of time in training camp. The have very little at CB after those guys. They have a good safety duo in Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson but Jackson is 32 so age is becoming a factor.
The team has done everything they can think of to make Drew Lock a successful QB when it comes to skill position talent around him. They are counting pretty heavily on new offensive line coach Mike Munchak to turn around LT Garrett Bolles career and patch together the RT spot. If the two OT spots don’t undermine the offense it should be fine. The defense has some aging players the team hopes to squeeze just a little bit more out of before they are done. That could be a risky proposition or a genius one. This team won’t give the Chiefs a lot to worry about but I like them better than the Raiders or Chargers.
Las Vegas Raiders
This Raiders team looks to have improved one of the biggest holes it had on offense this off season. They spent numerous draft picks at WR and even picked up a free agent in Nelson Agholor. Henry Ruggs III was their first-round pick and was always likely to start but a late camp injury to Tyrell Williams means there’s a good chance Bryan Edwards, a third-rounder, will also start. Hunter Renfrow is their slot guy so they are going to be counting on plenty of youth to step up. Nelson Agholor and Zay Jones are the veteran depth. Last season this team discovered they had a star RB in Josh Jacobs and an emerging star TE in Darren Waller. Both of them will major pieces to the offense this year. They brought in depth at TE with veteran Jason Witten and he should be a reliable second TE. The offensive line is a strength with all five starters back; LT Kolten Miller, LG Richie Incognito, C Rodney Hudson, RG Gabe Jackson and RT Trent Brown. This offense’s ceiling will be determined by Derek Carr’s ability to utilize his new found talent at WR and not screw the rest of it up. Ruggs is the deep threat, Edwards is the big target, Renfrow and Waller and his middle-of-the-field weapons, and Josh Jacobs is the bell cow in the backfield. All protected by a very talented offensive line, there is no reason this shouldn’t be a great offense.
The major piece of the puzzle that can hold this team back is its defense. They front line should be good but DE Clelin Ferrell was a disappointment last year after being their top pick and only generating 4.5 sacks. DE Maxx Crosby was a pleasant surprise on the other end after being a fourth-round pick and getting 10 sacks. They need Ferrell to pick it up and either veteran Carl Nassib or Arden Key to step up as the third DE. Maurice Hurst, Maliek Collins and Jonathan Hankins should make for a solid 3-man rotation at DT. The LB group was terrible last year and they completely overhauled the group. They brought in Nick Kwiatkowski and Cory Littleton in free agency and then traded for Raekwon McMillan during training camp. This group has to be an improvement over last season. CB is a tricky position for them because they basically have Trayvon Mullen as their top guy and they are hoping 1st round rookie Damon Arnette really steps up. That’s a dicey proposition when you consider they don’t have elite pass rushing up front. They get Jonathan Abram back at safety and they added veteran Jeff Heath so that position should be better.
The offense has potential to be elite while they have to hope the defense just gets better. I don’t think the offense is going to look like the Chiefs but they are going to be better than they have been. The upgrade at LB alone should seriously improve the defense and if Ferrell can develop at DE that would be quite helpful.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers offense bothers me in a few places, QB and offensive line. Those aren’t great places to have questions. QB Tyrod Taylor has been around the block in the NFL and while he’s not a terrible starting QB he’s not exactly setting the world on fire. The truth is, he’s just holding down the spot until they think Justin Herbert is ready or they are eliminated from the playoffs and want to get started on the future, whichever comes first. The offensive line added Trai Turner and Bryan Bulaga to man the right side and they are upgrades from last season. Unfortunately, Turner was added at the expense of LT Russell Okung who was traded for Turner and that means the team doesn’t have a legit LT. Sam Tevi, last year’s RT, is slated to start at LT and that’s not great news. Tevi and LG Dan Feeney on the left side are going to have to step it up for the offense to have time to work. WRs Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are an excellent duo but the team lacks depth. They need rookies Joe Reed and KJ Hill to really show out. Hunter Henry is a fantastic TE if he is healthy. Austin Ekeler is a multi-talented RB they are counting on to be a major piece of the offense. The problem is that TE Virgil Green, RB Justin Jackson and RB Joshua Kelley are solid but unspectacular backups and if anything happens to Henry or Ekeler the offense will be severely compromised.
The defense has incredible potential to be elite if they stay healthy. That is unfortunately been an overall problem for the Chargers for several years. This season is already off to an auspicious start with safety Derwin James getting injured again with a season ending injury. That shouldn’t stop this defense from being elite but it means some guys have to step up. On the defensive line they have top pass rushers Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram on the outside with newly acquired DT Linval Joseph ready to line up inside with Justin Jones and plug up the middle. They drafted Kenneth Murray and he’s already slated to start at MLB and Nick Vigil was brought in to upgrade another LB spot. These are big upgrades at the LB level. At CB the team signed Chris Harris to pair with Casey Hayward and that’s as good of a duo at CB as anyone can have. With Derwin James out it means Rayshawn Jenkins and Nasir Adderley will man the safety spots. The team needs a bounce back season from Desmond King who struggled late last year. King has the versatility to play multiple spots and they will need him to move between CB, nickelback and safety to make up for some of James’ absence.
Step one for the Chargers is staying healthy, they have an unfortunate knack for having very key players get hurt. Losing James for the season again, is not optimal. I don’t like this offense because they are not built to keep up with everyone else in the division. The Chargers defense is good but the Chief have an all-world offense and both the Broncos and the Raiders invested heavily in improving their offensive units.
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