Team Preview: Kansas City Chiefs

 

The back to back defending champions come into the 2024 season looking to become the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a row. Kansas City comes into the season with the best odds to take home the Lombardi Trophy once again.

It's hard to imagine that a team who has won back to back Super Bowls actually improved this offseason. But the Chiefs did that. They realize that the rest of the NFL is always getting better and just because they have won two years in a row, doesn't mean the third is any easier. 

The big question that has surrounded the Chiefs since the departure of Tyreek Hill, a couple of years ago, has been the strength at the wide receiver position. When you have arguably the best tight end of all time on your side, it is not as much of a concern to address the struggles of your receiver room. 

But the Chiefs did address these issues this offseason. After seeing their draft pick from 2023, Rashee Rice, blossom into a WR1, they decided to give Patrick Mahomes even more weapons. Kansas City signed Marquise Brown to a one-year deal and drafted speedstar Xavier Worthy out of Texas. 

Worthy ran the fastest ever 40-yard dash at this year's NFL Combine adding to the list of deep threat targets that Mahomes has at his disposal. We all saw what Mahomes could do with Tyreek Hill's speed, and if he could do the same with Worthy, watch out. 

Mahomes now has this trio of wide receivers and the best tight end in the NFL in Travis Kelce. Kelce just seems to improve each and every year. He always is able to make the big catch and bail out his team or make a play away from the ball such as laying down a big block. 

And you can't forget about Isiah Pacheco in the backfield as well. On paper, this looks like the best Chiefs offense that Mahomes has had since he entered the league. With Mahomes already being a three-time Super Bowl champion, that is pretty insane that this could be his best offense yet. 

With the offense improving, the defense did see its number of departures this offseason. The biggest one was losing cornerback L'Jarius Sneed. Sneed had become one of the NFL's top cornerbacks during his time in Kansas City and ended up leaving for Tennessee during the offseason. 

Kansas City saw other guys such as Willie Gay and Mike Edwards leave as well. Despite these subtractions, the Chiefs still are favorited to win it all once again. Patrick Mahomes is quickly surmounting his name into the GOAT conversation and his coach Andy Reid is as well. Will the Chiefs make history again or finally be stopped in 2024? 

Team Preview: Las Vegas Raiders

 

After a rollercoaster season in 2023 for Las Vegas, the Raiders look to come into this season with a little more stability. Fresh off of a new deal, Antonio Pierce will lead the way for the silver and black in 2024. 

Whether it was quarterback changes or coaching changes, you name it, the Raiders had a lot of drama last season. After just seven games at quarterback, the Jimmy Garoppolo experiment quickly fizzled out. On top of that, Josh McDaniels was fired just eight weeks into the season after a 3-5 start. 

The Raiders moved onto new heights and placed the interim coaching tag on Antonio Pierce for the remainder of the season. In addition, they named rookie quarterback, Aidan O'Connell, the starting quarterback for the remainder of 2023. 

O'Connell will now most likely have that title in 2024, but there has been some competition in training camp with Gardner Minshew. After last year's debacle at the quarterback position, Vegas should not be so quick to name their QB1 just yet. 

Las Vegas said goodbye to Josh Jacobs this offseason after departing for Green Bay. Jacobs will be replaced by his backup Zamir White and the Raiders also went out and signed Alexander Mattison. Like the quarterback position, the Raiders are unsure of who will be RB1 come September 8th. 

For his third season in Las Vegas, Davante Adams will lead the receiver room as the unanimous WR1. This could be Adams' make or break year in Vegas after two very frustrating seasons and lots of rumored trade talks surrounding him. 

The Raiders first round draft pick, Brock Bowers, was rated very highly around the NFL. Many didn't think the Georgia tight end would fall all the way to 13, but luckily for the Raiders he did. In college, Bowers asserted himself as the best tight end in college football and will be a nice target for whoever is throwing him the football this season. 

Recently rated the 10th best player in all of football, Maxx Crosby will lead this Raiders defense after a 14.5 sack season last year. He will be joined by former Dolphin, Christian Wilkins, who signed a massive contract this offseason to join the Raiders for the next four years. The duo of Wilkins and Crosby is going to keep opposing offensive lines up at night. It is going to get scary in Vegas this year. 

Las Vegas did a good job in keeping mostly the rest of the defense intact from a year ago. The defense ranked 15th in the NFL last season and with the addition of Wilkins, this number will certainly rise. 

The Raiders look on paper to be poised for a breakout season in 2024. They have learned from the past, the less drama surrounding the team, the better. Hopefully Vegas fans don't have to go through anything similar to what they did just a season ago. 

Team Preview: Los Angeles Chargers

 

After finishing dead last in the AFC West last season at 5-12, the Chargers are looking a lot different in 2024. Along with the shakeup of players on both sides of the ball, Los Angeles also has a new coaching staff in town. 

The Chargers decided to fire Brandon Staley after a couple of subpar years in Los Angeles and hired Jim Harbaugh, fresh off of a National Championship at Michigan. After a 5-12 season last year, and blowing a 27-0 lead in the playoffs the year before, Los Angeles felt it was right to move on from Staley. 

LA moved on from a lot of notable faces within the organization this offseason. Along with cutting Mike Williams, Keenan Allen was also traded to Chicago. Justin Herbert's top two targets both gone, and to add to that, Austin Ekeler departed for Washington as well. The top three weapons on the Chargers offense in recent history are now all gone. 

They were able to get some running back help in free agency after signing two former Ravens: Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. Dobbins and Edwards will become the two-headed monster in the backfield this season. The concern with Dobbins is his health. In his brief career, he has played in only 24 games while missing 43 games due to injury. 

After being much lower on the depth chart last season, Joshua Palmer will now takeover as Justin Herbert's WR1. Along with Palmer, the Chargers drafted Ladd McConkey, and signed DJ Clark to bolster the receiver room. 

Along with selecting McConkey in the draft, the Chargers had one of my favorite first round selections in Joe Alt. Alt will come in as the starting right tackle standing at 6'8 and weighing over 320 pounds. He showed in his time at Notre Dame that he can be an absolute beast. Justin Herbert should have nothing to worry about with Alt blocking his right side and Rashawn Slater blocking his left side. 

LA's defense was abysmal last season and finished ranked 28th in the NFL. Their lowlight of the season in 2023 was getting 63 points put up on them against the Raiders on Thursday Night Football. The Chargers decided it was time to move on from some big names on defense. 

They cut Eric Kendricks and also watched key players such as Dean Marlowe, Kenneth Murray, Michael Davis, and others all depart in free agency. They did sign Denzyl Perryman and Poona Ford to add to a defense that still consists of Khalil Mack and Derwin James. 

Coming from Michigan, Jim Harbaugh lead the nation's #1 ranked defense. It doesn't always translate well from college to the pros, but there is hope for improvement with Harbaugh coming into town. 

The Chargers certainly have a large hole to climb out of after finishing last in their division in 2023. Will this new look team lead by Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert instantly click in year 1 or will there be some noticeable growing pains along the way?

Team Preview: Denver Broncos

After two seasons in Denver, the Russell Wilson experiment, otherwise known as a disaster, is finally over.  The Broncos will look to climb their way out of the bottom of the AFC West in 2024 with three different potential starting quarterbacks. 

With the departure of Russell Wilson, the Broncos went on a QB hunt this offseason. They ended up with three. They ended up keeping Wilson's backup, Jarrett Stidham, drafted Bo Nix, and traded for Zach Wilson. Unfortunately exchanging one Wilson for another Wilson will not solve any problems for Denver. 

The coaching staff still hasn't determined who will be QB1 on September 8th, but if it were my choice, I would go with Jarrett Stidham. I like Nix's potential the most in the quarterback room, but Stidham has been in the NFL for a number of years now so his experience is what Denver should lean on early in the season. 

I do think Nix should start at some point, yet it doesn't have to be Week 1. At the end of the day, Denver is going to need a huge spark to get their offense moving after finishing with the 26th best offense in the NFL last season. 

Veterans Javonte Williams and Courtland Sutton are back to headline this Broncos offense. Denver did move on from Jerry Jeudy after numerous signs last season of a toxic relationship between he and the team. 

Denver signed former Lion, Josh Reynolds, to take over the WR2 position and also drafted Bo Nix's former teammate from Oregon, Troy Franklin. It will be interesting to see who is throwing these two new weapons the football this season. 

Along with their underachieving offense, the defense also was not very good last season to say the least. They finished ranked 29th in the NFL in total defense last season. Denver traded for John Franklin-Meyers, a defensive end from the Jets, to add some more force to the front of their defense. 

The Broncos moved on from longtime free safety, Justin Simmons, after cutting him in March. They did sign Brandon Jones to a three-year deal to replace Simmons at his position in the secondary. The secondary does consist of Pat Surtain II, who has quickly asserted himself as one of the league's premier corners. The 24 year-old will lead this Broncos defense into the 2024 season. 

Denver is in the midst of a rebuild process with still a mediocre roster on paper. The Broncos will need consistent and serviceable quarterback play if they want to rack up a couple of wins in 2024.