There’s no point pretending this year’s AFC West is about anything other than Patrick Mahomes’ journey to superstardom, as well as the Kansas City Chief’s quest for a first Super Bowl since 1969.

While the LA Chargers broke their four-season playoff drought in 2018, and while the Denver Broncos will be the first to remind you they’re the only team with any contemporary success, it’s the Chiefs who’ll be absorbing the bulk of the division’s interest this year- a natural outcome of having a truly generational player at quarterback.

If Kansas City’s reigning MVP quarterback, with a supercharged roster coached by one of the NFL’s greatest minds in Andy Reid doesn’t grab you, then there’s always the Oakland Raiders, who continue to be relied upon as the league’s chief source of drama and palace intrigue.  

For the start of the 2019 NFL season, Stats Insider is previewing each of the NFL’s eight divisions, while asking one pertinent question for each team. 

- Inside the NFC SOUTH: Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Buccaneers
- Inside the NFC EAST: Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Giants
- Inside the NFC WEST: Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals
- Inside the NFC NORTH: Bears, Vikings, Packers, Lions
- Inside the AFC SOUTH: Colts, Texans, Titans, Jaguars
- Inside the AFC NOUTH: Ravens,Browns,Steelers,Bengals

Today’s division, the AFC West.

Is Steve Spagnuolo actually the most important man at the Kansas City Chiefs?

What the Kansas City Chiefs achieved from an offensive standpoint last season was not only remarkable - and record-breaking - it represented the distillation of everything wonderful about the modern NFL offense.

With Patrick Mahomes’ 50-touchdown MVP season leading the way, the Chiefs rolled to the AFC’s #1 seed, only to fall agonisingly short in overtime against the New England Patriots in the AFC Conference Championship.

Kansas’ 565 regular-season points constituted the third-most ever recorded in NFL history, with an astonishing 12 different players catching at least one touchdown pass. In the process, Mahomes became just the second player in NFL history - along with Peyton Manning - to throw for 50 regular season TD’s to go with more than 5,000 passing yards.

Yet despite all of the Chief’s otherworldly offensive production, they were also in possession of one of the league’s most feeble defenses. They conceded the second-most yards in the league, ranked #24th for total points conceded, and surrendered touchdowns on a massive 72.4% of the opposition’s red zone entries, which was a number only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers performed worse in.

All season, the theme for the Chiefs was about a seemingly effortless ability to put points on the board, only to surrender all or some of them on the subsequent drive.

Ultimately, their defensive frailties paved the way for some serious off-season change at Arrowhead Stadium in a bid to waste neither the talent of Mahomes, nor his rookie contract the organisation benefits so greatly from.

Not only did the Chiefs trade for Seattle’s Frank Clark, but also threw $20 million worth of cap dollars at the likes of Alex Okafor, Emmanuel Ogbah and Tyrann Matthieu to continue to sure up their defence.

Yet of all the defensive roster acquisitions, the boldest move the Chiefs made was to replace longtime Defensive Coordinator, Bob Sutton, with revered defensive mind, Steve Spagnuolo.

Spagnuolo is renowned for his blitz-heavy schemes, which he used most famously as Defensive Coordinator of the New York Giants, when his defense sacked Tom Brady five times en route to winning the 2008 Super Bowl.

While solving the Chief’s myriad of defensive concerns presents one of the NFL’s most daunting tasks, it also promises to be one of the most rewarding.

Should Spagnuolo be able to transform the Chief’s defense into a formidable unit, another Super Bowl ring might be waiting for him.

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Will the LA Chargers' off-season derail a potential Super Bowl worthy campaign?

The Los Angeles Chargers, under one of the league’s youngest GMs in Tom Telesco, make for one of the NFL’s most intriguing and innovative franchises.

While the first years of the Telesco front office were criticised due to how rigorously he overhauled the roster - which also contributed to a four-season playoff hiatus - the foresight and fruits of Telesco’s labour are only now starting to be seen, with the Chargers putting together an excellent 12-4 campaign in 2018.

With 37-year-old quarterback, Philip Rivers at the helm, and, off the back of a young, diverse defence, last year’s Chargers presented a rare, impeccably balanced NFL team. In fact, according to the Football Outsider’s famed DVOA ratings, only the New Orleans Saints and the Chargers were ranked in both the top ten for both offensive and defensive DVOA.

However for all of the Chargers strengths on both sides of the ball, they’ve endured an off-season that has been truly dreadful.

Their do-it-all All-Pro Rookie safety, Derwin James, suffered a serious foot injury and is expected to miss the entire season. Star running back Melvin Gordon is holding out for an expensive new contract, with the Chargers now actively trying to find a trade partner. Their star offensive tackle, Russell Okung, whose $16 million dollar cap hit is the second richest among linemen, is also injured and likely to miss a significant portion of the season.  

Despite the injury and contractual concerns surrounding the Chargers, this season will be about trusting the process Telesco has studiously mapped out.

In Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Travis Benjamin and tight end, Hunter Henry, they have one of the more elite sets of receivers in the league. 

On defense, and even without James, the Chargers still have a potent mix of star power led by the likes of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, along with the Adrian Philips at cornerback, who rose from an undrafted prospect out of Texas, and graduated to All-Pro status last season.

For the Chargers, making the most of their exceptionally gentle first-half schedule will be paramount, where just two of their first seven games are pitted against playoff teams from last season.

If they emerge in a strong position, they’ll have every chance to make some serious noise in season 2019.

Will this be John Elway’s last season at the Denver Broncos?

Since winning the Super Bowl in 2016, it’s been nothing but downhill skiing for one of the NFL proudest franchises, the Denver Broncos.

When they hoisted the 2016 Lombardi Trophy, they did so off the back of one of the fiercest defences in the league which was ranked #1 in terms of DVOA and whose 52 sacks led the NFL.

The trouble is the Broncos haven’t come close to those heights, currently marooned in a three-season post-Super Bowl hangover, where they’ve gone 20-28 and not come close to returning to the NFL Playoffs.

In the wake of Peyton Manning’s retirement, the Broncos have cycled through quarterbacks, granting huge contracts, and devoting premium draft capital to the likes of Case Keenum and Paxton Lynch, both of whom are no longer with the team.

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General Manager John Elway’s ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ approach to finding a QB has seen him settle on former Baltimore Raven Joe Flacco whose production has diminished greatly in recent seasons to the point he lost the starting job in Baltimore last year.

Despite his legendary status within the franchise as two-time Super Bowl winning QB, Elway is now starting to feel considerable pressure as the GM of a struggling team.

In the off-season, he fired underperforming head coach Vance Joseph after just two seasons and bought in Vic Fangio, who is regarded as one of the NFL’s pre-eminent defensive minds.

The move to hire Fangio was a bold one by Elway, bucking the NFL obsession with finding the next apparent offensive mastermind.

Elway has reasoned that the lion’s share of Denver’s talent and cap spending lies in its vaunted defence, and will be hoping Fangio can take them to even greater heights in 2019 and beyond.

Denver’s defensive lynchpin and seven-time Pro Bowler Von Miller is still putting up phenomenal numbers (26 QB hits and 14.5 sacks last season). Cornerback Chris Harris is still one of the league’s most dominant at his position, while linebacker Todd Davis last year had a breakout, 114-tackle season.

Most intriguing however is what Fangio will be able to do with 2018’s number five overall NFL Draft selection Bradley Chubb, who registered 21 QB hits in his rookie season along with an incredible 12 sacks.

If Flacco can come into Denver and manage its ailing offense, coupled with how dangerous the Broncos defence is, then there exists a legitimate path back to the playoffs for the Broncos.

At the same time, the $66 million commitment to a QB in decline represents one of the league’s biggest gambles, and one which may well define the Elway tenure.

Either way, it’s going to be an intriguing season in the Mile High city.

Are the Oakland Raiders a football team, or a circus act?

The Oakland Raiders have always been synonymous with pageantry.

From their distinct black and grey uniforms, to the legendary John Madden, to Ice Cube and their rabid fan base, the Raiders, whether in Los Angeles, Oakland - and soon enough, Las Vegas - have always revelled in drama. 

When they were winning, which was regularly throughout the 1970’s and 80’s, and where they claimed their three Super Bowl titles, the Raiders were the toast of the NFL world.

Yet the last few decades have made for abysmal viewing for Raider fans, missing the NFL Playoffs in 22 of their last 27 seasons.

Last off-season, and sick of their downtrodden status, they went bold - once again - by coaxing Jon Gruden out of retirement and into their vacant head coaching position

The surprises didn’t end there, however, with the Raiders announcing that the deal to hire Gruden was in fact a ten-year, $100 million commitment to a man who hadn’t coached professional football in more than a decade.

And if Gruden’s first season back with the Raiders is anything to go by, it’s going to be a long ten years, with his team stumbling to a 5-11 record in 2018, while conceding a league-high - and franchise-record - 467 points.

This off-season, rather than bring a semblance of stability to the team, the Raiders’ circus took it up a notch by trading for Pittsburgh’s seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver, Antonio Brown.

While Brown has been one of the NFL’s very best wideouts this decade, he is a receiver who unfortunately fits the prototype 'diva' label. Already this off-season he’s threatened to quit the sport owing to a dispute with the NFL regarding the use of his helmet, while also getting his feet severely frost-bitten after a trip to a cryotherapy chamber gone wrong.

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The list of Raiders craziness goes on and on, and we haven’t even mentioned last season’s pre-season trade of superstar linebacker, Khalil Mack, who dutifully went on to have another stellar campaign with the Chicago Bears.

However, if the Mack trade solved anything, it was through adding a desperate infusion of draft talent into the team.

Last April at the NFL Draft, the Raiders had no less than eight picks within the first 150 selections, which could set the franchise up for years to come.

Before that, however, Gruden simply must make amends for such a horrendous first season back at the helm, which will be a proposition that is immediately confronted by one of the league’s most arduous first-half schedules.

After the first couple of months, we’ll have an excellent gauge of whether the Raiders are indeed on the right path, or simply back to their Hollywood ways.

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