Kansas City Chiefs

AFC West Roundup: Post-Season and Pre Free Agency

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:51 p.m. ET

Fansided, Justin Smith/FanSided via Just Blog Baby

Weekly roundup of the AFC West, keeping tabs on the Oakland Raiders and the rest of the division. Post-season and pre-Free Agency edition.

The AFC West was officially eliminated from the ranks of active NFL teams when the Steelers beat the Chiefs in Arrowhead, but that doesn’t mean that the division has been dormant since the regular season ended.

Quite the contrary, actually. With one team moving now, another probably moving soon, a multitude of Pro Bowl and All-Pro accolades, and a coaching carousel that reads like an NFL soap opera, it’s been the NFL’s busiest and most intriguing division since 2017 started.

So what’s happening with our friends in the good old AFC West? And our beloved Raiders?

Let’s find out.

Dec 18, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio signals for a touchdown during the second quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Oakland Raiders

After months of speculation, the Raiders formally filed papers for relocation to Las Vegas on January 19, 2017. It will take time to get the money in order and a facility built, and the Raiders have a year-to-year lease at the Oakland Coliseum that will keep them there for a couple of years.

But Vegas looks inevitable, and it sounds and feels strange. That’s one offseason change fans will have a difficult time adjusting to as this team continues to build toward contention.

An offseason change fans will embrace is an NFL Network report that the Raiders are prioritizing long-term deals for both Derek Carr and Khalil Mack. Reggie McKenzie has said keeping the core of this team is priority #1 and this just confirms how serious the Raiders are at staying relevant.

Carr is the type of player who can command top-end QB money, but may not so the team can sign other players. He’s definitely a winning is more important than money guy, and Mack is the same. The Raiders are lucky to have two young cornerstone players that are unselfish and likely will be easy to negotiate with — relative as that is in NFL terms.

The team is also heavily focusing on interior defensive lineman, linebackers and secondary help. They have a cadre of scouts at the Senior Bowl this week and are keeping an eye out for their defensive Jalen Richard, that diamond in the rough that makes an immediate impact.

The Raiders also have their fair share of free agents to consider, both with the team and out on the market. Check out Maliik Obee and other Just Blog Baby write-ups for more on that.

In player news, Derek Carr is healing nicely. Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper are skipping the Pro Bowl. Austin Howard and Sean Smith both had successful shoulder surgeries in the past week. Marquette King has, alas, made amends with Travis Kelce.

The Raiders have made a few moves of significance. Much was said about the departure of OC Bill Musgrave in favor of promoting incumbent QB coach Todd Downing. Keeping Ken Norton Jr. was a surprise to some, but the hiring of John Pagano to assist him was a brilliant coup by the Raiders staff.

The Chargers defense was held together with duct tape and glue last season and still produced solid numbers and kept the team in a lot of games. Pagano is an aggressive, no-nonsense play-caller who will instill some passion into this squad and utilize the pass rush a little better than Norton. Plus, coming from a division rival is always key.

Which brings me to…

Jan 1, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller (58) celebrates after a play in the fourth quarter against the Oakland Raiders at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Broncos won 24-6. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Denver Broncos

Speaking of hiring division rivals, meet the biggest poachers in the NFL. The Broncos had a great defense last season, but their moribund offense and limited quarterback play doomed them to miss the playoffs.

So what did they do? Not what many thought. Rather than extend the Shanahan pedigree in Denver by chasing Kyle out of Atlanta, the Broncos hired to their strengths and snatched hot commodity Vance Joseph, the DC for the Miami Dolphins. That’s good, because they lost respected DC Wade Phillips to the Rams.

Okay, but how was that going to fix the offense — which is what needed fixing, after all.

After San Diego fired coach Mike McCoy, who is well-known as a brilliant offensive mind and play caller, the Broncos snatched him up. This made for a scary reunion between team and the OC who led them to team records in yards and points in 2012, and will be McCoy’s cumulative 5th season as OC with Denver.

The instant the Raiders let Bill Musgrave go, the Broncos snagged him as their QB coach. Suddenly, an offense with little direction and firepower under Gary Kubiak is guided by two of the best offensive minds in the division. And they brought all that division rival knowledge with them!

That wasn’t all. They also hired Marcus Robertson as their DB coach. Robertson had also just been let go by the Raiders. So that’s three high-level assistants on the Broncos staff that coached other teams in the division in 2016.

Musgrave was maligned by many for his time in Oakland, despite producing excellent numbers and results in all facets. The Broncos were basically a QB and C.J. Anderson injury away from contending last season, and Musgrave’s track record with offenses and QB’s speaks for itself.

It’s a scary proposition that a very strong defensive team just hired a very strong defensively minded coach. Then that coach went and hired two of the more respected offensive minds in the NFL. Who just happened to coach rival teams for years previous.

If Musgrave can come close to doing in Denver what he did in Oakland regarding offensive improvement and McCoy can again put the Midas touch on this Denver team, it will be a scary unit.

In Musgrave’s two years as OC in Oakland, the team went from last in the NFL in 2014 in yards per play (4.5), to 5.3 (23rd in the NFL) in 2015, to 5.7 (10th in the NFL) last season. Marked improvement, as was the Raiders points per game. 31st in the NFL at 15.8 ppg in 2014. Then they jumped to 22.4 ppg (17th in the NFL) in Musgrave’s first season in 2015. This past year jumped again to an impressive 26.0 (7th in the NFL). All under Musgrave’s watch.

The Broncos have two young potentially decent QB’s in Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. Derek Carr improved markedly under Musgrave. If Siemian and/or Lynch can do the same, with McCoy calling plays and Musgrave whispering in their ear all the Raiders and Chargers secrets, it could be a long season for others.

Jan 26, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kielce (87) works out at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs season ended again in playoff disappointment with a hard-fought home loss to the Steelers. It was an ugly game that was a slog for both sides. But it also showed that the Chiefs aren’t going anywhere.

That’s because many of their young stars played like stars. Tyreek Hill got held down on the stat sheet but provided a scary and useful decoy when on the field. Travis Kelce played well when he wasn’t being an idiot. You know, blaming others for costing his team a game he cost them as much as anyone.

Albert Wilson scored a TD. Marcus Peters and the Chiefs secondary mostly bottled up a potent Steelers passing attack. Chris Jones was a beast on the d-line. This team has some good young pieces and will be around for some time.

They also have some good veteran pieces. Recent news says they are prioritizing signing Eric Berry to keep one of those pieces in KC. Berry is walking inspiration with his personal triumphs, and has expressed a desire to stay with the Chiefs. They would be fools to do anything but everything in their power to lock up such a great player, leader, and person.

The Walrus has kept his staff mostly static, as per the status quo for Andy Reid offseasons. However, they did lose highly respected receivers coach David Culley, who joined Sean McDermott’s staff in Buffalo. The Chiefs, aside from Jeremy Maclin, have a relatively young and unproven receiver corps. Losing a coach as good as Culley could be a potential blow to their development.

There are other potential changes in the works that could vastly impact Kansas City’s executive makeup as well. Their director of player personnel, Chris Ballard, has interviewed for the vacant Colts GM job.

Rumors surround highly respected and successful Chiefs GM John Dorsey as well. He’s said to be the top candidate to replace Ted Thompson in Green Bay, IF Thompson retires. Dorsey isn’t guaranteed to leave but the possibility is there.

One or both leaving at this stage of the offseason would be a harmful blow to KC. Their ability to negotiate with free agents and make player personnel decisions would be hampered. They’d have to concentrate on hiring personnel rather than scouting players on the whole. It would be difficult.

Jan 18, 2017; Inglewood, CA, USA; Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos speaks at Chargers Kickoff Ceremony as Los Angeles Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff (left) listens at the The Forum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Chargers

I typed San Diego — I really did. Then I remembered that awful logo that inspired this brilliant tweet:

*checks mentions*
*squints*
*clears throat*

for the record, us & the @dodgers are just friends https://t.co/jBoJhZlYVD

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 12, 2017

So of course, they changed it again. For the third time in two days.

Hey, cut them some slack. The Chargers lost their head coach. They lost their defensive coordinator. They lost their hometown. It’s been a tough month for the Chargers. Then, they decided on that logo. A cry for help, perhaps.