Kansas City Chiefs: Don’t be surprised when Broncos receive hype
The Kansas City Chiefs have owned the AFC West the past four years, but some think the Broncos are surging.
The last time the Kansas City Chiefs weren’t AFC West champs was in 2015 when they went 11-5 and lost out on the division title to the Denver Broncos who were in the final year of the Peyton Manning era. They went on to win the Super Bowl that year, but haven’t been to the playoffs since.
The Kansas City Chiefs, on the other hand, started their tear in 2016 and haven’t faltered since then. They won the division for the fourth straight year this past season and capped that special season off with a Super Bowl victory, their first in 50 years.
Even though they’re Super Bowl champs, that’s not enough for NFL pundits out there to automatically hand the AFC West to the Chiefs. Let’s be honest though – Would it be a fun offseason if every single person picked Kansas City to win the division?
No, it wouldn’t. That’s not how the offseason is supposed to go for talk show hosts and other NFL analysts.
The Broncos made moves this offseason to try and compete with the Kansas City Chiefs.
It was blatantly obvious that the Broncos were using the 2020 NFL Draft as a way to try and match the Chiefs on offense. They lucked into Jerry Jeudy falling to them at pick number 15 and then added another wide receiver in the second round in KJ Hamler of Penn State. Those two guys paired with Courtland Sutton give Drew Lock the weapons he needs to potentially go toe-to-toe with Kansas City in their two match-ups in 2020.
Denver also signed Melvin Gordon to help out on their run game and while that move isn’t being discussed much, it’ll be a big one for them. At this point, the Broncos are really just hoping that Lock is the guy they were hoping he’d be when they drafted him in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
While a lot of NFL analysts are high on Lock this offseason, there’s still a “Hold on” factor that needs to be taken into account here. Lock had a nice outing in the second half of the 2019 season when Denver finally let him drive the car, but there’s tape on him now as well as a huge amount of pressure to get the Broncos back on track.
Chiefs fans know their team is the better team between the two, but these talk show hosts (looking at you, Cowherd) need something to discuss right now. The argument of if the Broncos might be better than the Chiefs in 2020 is something they can discuss and Chiefs fans shouldn’t take it personally.
The Broncos made the flashy moves this offseason and that’s why it’s easy to point to them and say “Wow they’re going to be really good!”
The Chiefs, however, didn’t lose any key members on offense and only a few on defense. That means they’re returning the majority of their Super Bowl winning roster from February. That should be the argument here, but hey – Let Broncos fans feel like they have a shot this year.