As the 2026 offseason continues to roll along, it's becoming abundantly clear that the NFL world is expecting a wide-open and wild race in the AFC West.
The Denver Broncos are the reigning division champions, but the Kansas City Chiefs will be back with a chip on their shoulder after missing the playoffs entirely last season, and watching quarterback Patrick Mahomes go down late in the season with an ugly knee injury.
The Chargers added offensive guru Mike McDaniel to the coaching staff this offseason, while the Raiders brought in Klint Kubiak as their new head coach and Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza as their quarterback of the future.
This year could be one of the most interesting in recent memory for the AFC West, which figures to be as competitive as we've ever seen it. Our latest NFL Power Rankings are going to take a look at each team in the division, ranking them worst to best as we get closer to every team getting into OTAs and in the thick of their offseason work.
NFL Power Rankings: Broncos still on top of vastly improved AFC West for 2026
4. Las Vegas Raiders
As much as the Raiders have improved on paper, there is still plenty of work to be done.
Although the additions of Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza are dominating the headlines, it's really the additions this team made defensively that could raise this team's floor for 2026. And not only the additions, but the one player they really couldn't afford to lose: Maxx Crosby.
The trade the Ravens backed out of kept Crosby in silver and black, at least for the time being, and that defense just looks so much better on paper with Crosby in it. The Raiders went out in free agency and upgraded the linebacker position with Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker, a couple of college teammates at Georgia who are now reunited in Vegas.
The secondary got a few major boosts from the additions of veteran Taron Johnson as well as 2nd-round pick Treydan Stukes and 4th-round pick Jermod McCoy.
Although it's going to take time for the vision to come to fruition, the Raiders have made a lot of necessary upgrades to be a lot more competitive in 2026.
3. Kansas City Chiefs
Let's start with the good news for the Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes appears to be making a much faster comeback from the knee injury he suffered late last season than anyone could have possibly anticipated. The fact that the NFL put the Chiefs on Monday Night Football to open up the 2026 season is as telling as anything.
People expect Mahomes to be back. People are expecting the Chiefs to be back.
I'm a little less confident. The Chiefs have plenty of veterans who have been to the mountaintop before, and a coaching staff that knows how to endure a long regular season. But this is a roster full of question marks at the wide receiver position, on the offensive line, and with an almost-completely revamped defense.
There's a lot of "new" in Kansas City this year, and the roster looked like a rebuilding project that couldn't simply be fixed in one offseason.
Now, the Chiefs have Kenneth Walker at the running back position, and could be a much more balanced group offensively than we've seen. They're going to need to be to take pressure off of Mahomes, whose efficiency has declined in the past couple of seasons.
Still, this team with a clean slate and a chip on its shoulder has to be considered dangerous.
2. Los Angeles Chargers
There is a lot to like about this Los Angeles Chargers team heading into the 2026 season.
Assuming the offensive line is fully healthy at the tackle positions, that could end up being the difference between the Chargers being a really good offense and the Chargers being a truly elite offense. Not to mention, the addition of Mike McDaniel has huge implications for this Chargers team.
Jim Harbaugh is a great head coach on his own, but giving the offense over to Mike McDaniel means we can expect the Chargers to be much more effective in the running game, because he's been one of the best in the NFL at run game coordinator since his days in San Francisco.
Having a top-tier running game to lean on, at least on paper, would have to give Justin Herbert the type of boost he needs to take another step forward as this team's franchise quarterback. The lack of balance and offensive line health have been detrimental to Herbert, who is becoming known by rival fan bases as "IF Man". But Herbert can only carry the team so far.
The Chargers' defense is loaded with veterans, but the loss of Jesse Minter looms large. Those veteran players are going to really need to lead the charge and raise the floor of that unit.
It feels like the "floor" for the Chargers is high this season.
1. Denver Broncos
The biggest question mark for the Denver Broncos is at the quarterback position. Is Bo Nix going to be himself coming off of an ankle injury?
It's a question pretty much no one in Broncos Country wants to ask at this point. Everyone would just rather assume that Nix is going to come back and be at full strength after the ankle injury that robbed this team of an AFC title, possibly more.
Nix has been one of the most clutch players in the NFL since he got into the league in 2024. He's been wildly productive, albeit not as consistent as everyone wants him to be. Still, the fact that the Broncos have won 24 regular season games over his first two seasons is not at all in spite of Bo Nix. This is a team that thrives as exactly that -- a team.
The Broncos have an elite defense, a top-tier offensive line, and a veteran coaching staff. They return the highest percentage of snaps from last season (over 90 percent) of any team in the NFL, and they've added Jaylen Waddle to the mix offensively via blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins.
It's hard to poke holes in this Denver Broncos team, especially if the quarterback is healthy.