With just a few days to go before we kick off the 2016-17 NFL Season, it’s time to roll on with the previews and predictions. The AFC West produced the Super Bowl 50 champion and the Super Bowl 48 runner-up, who just so happened to be the same team; the Denver Broncos. Will the Broncos make it to the big dance again?
Spoiler alert: No.
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Here’s your code key for this year’s 2016-17 GMS NFL Football Preview : Z = Clinches home field advantage, Y = Clinches division, X = Clinches wild card spot
Y – Kansas City Chiefs: 11-5
The Chiefs biggest problem this offseason is getting their best players, especially on defense, under contract and healthy. This is a team with no glaring holes, so they spent the draft and free agency shoring up their depth to the point where they’re two-deep across pretty much every position. While that might not be enough to put together a magical Super Bowl LI run, it will certainly be enough to win the AFC West.
Alex Smith is heading toward the twilight of a career that’s seen him go from draft bust, to just a bum to one of the elite quarterbacks in the league. It would be nice to see him cap that kind of career with a title, but there doesn’t seem to be much magic in Kansas City. Other teams have the championship X-Factor that KC just doesn’t bring to the table.
Last year: 11-5, lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional round
Oakland Raiders: 8-8
Oakland has put together an exciting, young roster on offense and defense. Their problem is they still look like everybody’s little brother. Could they put it all together this year? Sure, but it’s not likely. Jack Del Rio has done a fine job there as the head coach so far, but no one would call him some calculating genius. The Raiders will have to work for everything they get and there are just too many good teams in the AFC in their way this year.
That all being said, the Raiders will be an exciting team to watch. They should be in every game and maybe win one or two they shouldn’t, on paper. Derek Carr and Amari Cooper are a highlight reel waiting to happen and Khalil Mack is one of the scariest pass rushers in all of football.
Last year: 7-9, did not make the playoffs
Denver Broncos: 7-9
Trevor Siemian? I don’t think it’s going to happen this year. Denver’s defense is the only reason I don’t have them as a 5-11 team. You could argue that they didn’t get great quarterback play from Peyton Manning last season in their Super Bowl run, but what you don’t understand is, their offense wasn’t a lot better with Brock Osweiler at QB. Head coach Gary Kubiak calls a bad game. Without a next level guy like Osweiler or Manning, they’re going to stumble.
I do believe Paxton Lynch will be the guy in the future. And the good news for the Broncos is, when their stumble comes, Lynch will get onto the field and the Broncos will have a nice little draft haul next year to continue loading up the roster. The future is bright. The present is not.
Last year: 12-4, Won Super Bowl 50
San Diego Chargers: 4-12
The Mike McCoy San Diego disaster finally comes to an end the only way it can, with his eventual unemployment. For now, at least, San Diego still has to play out this season much to the chagrin of a fan base that doesn’t seem all that excited about keeping them in town.
If the Chargers do better than four wins, it will all be because Philip Rivers doing some kind of QB sorcery. Rivers has been too good for too long to have been saddled with an organization that seems hell-bent on never giving him a real head coach to play for since firing Marty Schottenheimer a hundred years ago.
Last year: 4-12, did not make the playoffs
