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The AFC West was supposed to be competitive this season but that hasn’t been the case. The Kansas City Chiefs are running away with the division at 9-2. The Los Angeles Chargers are in second place at 6-5 with the Las Vegas Raiders in third place at 4-7.
The only thing that might hold the Chiefs back from getting to another Super Bowl is issues at wide receiver. Mecole Hardman and Justyn Ross are both on Injured Reserve while JuJu Smith-Schuster and Kadarius Toney have missed games due to injuries this season. With injuries piling up, the Chiefs have looked to a former rival to add some depth. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, Kansas City is signing former Raiders wide receiver Bryan Edwards to their practice squad.
The Atlanta Falcons traded for Edwards from Las Vegas this offseason but recently decided to release him. He had 34 catches for 571 yards with the Raiders last season but only has three catches this year. The former third-round pick out of South Carolina was highly touted coming out of college and the Raiders thought they found a steal in the draft.
That didn’t end up being the case as he struggled with consistency. Based on the fact that he didn’t last long with the Falcons shows that the Raiders made the right call to trade him. He now gets to play with the best quarterback in the NFL and the best offensive head coach. If they can’t get him to live up to his potential, he’s likely destined to be a practice squad player going forward.
Has the AFC West Been Decided?
This offseason, the Chiefs were supposed to be the one team in the AFC West that got worse. The Raiders added Davante Adams, the Broncos added Russell Wilson and the Chargers added Khalil Mack while Kansas City traded away Tyreek Hill. The speedster is one of the best weapons in the NFL so it was safe to assume the Chiefs’ offense wouldn’t be as dynamic.
While they’re not getting as many explosive plays, the team is leading the league in yards and scoring. There are still plenty of games left for the Chargers to possibly catch up to the Chiefs but that doesn’t seem likely. Once again, Kansas City will be sitting atop the AFC West once the season is over. The rest of the teams will need to try again next year.
Raiders Not out of Playoff Hunt Yet
Earlier in the season, the Raiders fell to 2-7 following a disastrous loss to the Indianapolis Colts. It appeared the team’s season was done from there. However, they’ve won back-to-back games since and have a couple of winnable games coming up.
Las Vegas is hosting the Chargers on Sunday. Los Angeles has been the better team this season but the Raiders could certainly pull off the upset at home. The team then travels to Los Angeles to play the Rams. The defending Super Bowl champs are a mess right now and could be without Matthew Stafford and Aaron Donald for that matchup. If the Raiders can win their next two games, they will jump to 6-7. They’d still have work to do but it would put them back in the thick of the playoff race. The Raiders started off 6-7 last year and made the playoffs.
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