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Kansas City Chiefs: AFC West Considered Third Worst Division

By Leigh Oleszczak

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The Kansas City Chiefs have had a successful free agency so far and now have the 2015 NFL Draft to look forward to. The 2015 season itself will be interesting, especially within the AFC West division. Chris Wesseling of NFL.com recently compiled the rankings of the eight divisions in the National Football League, as generated by Around the NFL. The AFC West ranked in the bottom half, at sixth.

I’m a little surprised to see the AFC West ranked this low due to the fact that all of the teams, except for the Denver Broncos, seem to be getting better. Even then, the Broncos are still going to be a competitive team due to the fact that they have Peyton Manning.

Manning may have struggled towards the end of last year and may very well be on the down slope of his incredible career, but come on. He’s Peyton Manning. Anyone would rather him on his worst day than most of the other quarterbacks in the league period.

If the Kansas City Chiefs want a division title, this is the year it needs to happen.

The good news about this is that if the division is weaker that means the Chiefs have a good shot at making a run for the division title in 2015. I think the San Diego Chargers could be a competitive team as well.

Honestly (and I’m really not kidding), the Oakland Raiders are typically a joke around the league, but they do have a new head coach in Jack Del Rio and second year quarterback Derek Carr, who had an impressive rookie season. Look for them to possibly win some big games in 2015.

Going back to the Kansas City Chiefs though, I say they have a chance at winning the AFC West because of the moves they made during free agency. For starters, they added a legitimate wide receiver threat in former Missouri Tiger Jeremy Maclin. They also beefed up the offensive line that was awful in 2014 by adding Ben Grubbs and Paul Fanaika.

Not to mention, the team was able to keep Tamba Hali and Mike DeVito, both of whom agreed to restructure their contracts. Oh and Ron Parker re signed with Kansas City. The only negative things were Rodney Hudson splitting for Oakland and the whole Justin Houston franchise tag situation (haven’t heard anything on that in weeks). If the Kansas City Chiefs want a division title, this is the year it needs to happen.

Here were the divisional power rankings, according to NFL.com and Around the NFL:

More from Kansas City Chiefs

  1. NFC West
  2. AFC North
  3. NFC North
  4. AFC East
  5. NFC East
  6. AFC West
  7. NFC South
  8. AFC South

It’s certainly not surprising to see the NFC West at the top of that list, as the Seattle Seahawks have made it to the past two Super Bowls (winning one), and the San Francisco 49ers made it to the big game in the 2012 season. The Arizona Cardinals made it to the playoffs last season, and even the St. Louis Rams made some moves during free agency and have a scary defense.

The AFC North sent three teams to the playoffs in 2014, and sometimes the Cleveland Browns put up a fight. We’ll see what happens with Johnny Manziel this season… or if anything happens.

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    • I was a little surprised not to see the AFC East higher considering all of the moves the Buffalo Bills made, the big cornerback signings for the New York Jets (even though they don’t have a very good offense), and the fact that the Miami Dolphins have looked decent in the past few seasons and look to be on the right track.

    Looking at the bottom and seeing the two southern divisions down there isn’t shocking in the least bit. The NFC South sent a team with a losing record to the playoffs, and the AFC South has been dominated by the Indianapolis Colts the past two seasons. The Houston Texans should be able to make a statement this year with their defense too.

    Here are some of Wesseling’s notes concerning the AFC West,

    "While the NFC West and AFC North were the consensus top two divisions, there wasn’t much distance separating No. 3 (NFC North) from No. 6 (AFC West). Ultimately, the voters believe the Broncos are no longer dominant, the Chargers and Chiefs remain mediocre and the Raiders are years away from relevancy~~~I was surprised to see the NFC East above the AFC West. Despite the Cowboys’ loss of DeMarco Murray and the Eagles’ dramatic makeover, the voters believe those teams remain rock solid. There is also a belief that the Giants were the league’s strongest six-win team in 2014."

    Where would you rank the AFC West out of all of the divisions?

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