The Las Vegas Raiders have made moves this offseason in hopes of returning to their playoff form from two seasons ago and, ultimately, competing amongst the NFL’s elite. There are certainly reasons to be optimistic about what the Raiders can accomplish this season, but one ongoing thing pointing against them is being in the AFC West.
The Raiders’ division is one of the toughest in the NFL led by the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is the standard bearer at the league’s premier position. The Los Angeles Chargers have one of the best young QBs as well in Justin Herbert and are looking to build on their playoff appearance last season while the Denver Broncos made a huge coaching change in bringing in Sean Payton.
Needless to say, the road won’t be an easy one for the Raiders and the gambling odds reflect that. Based on the odds from Bet Online.AG, the Raiders are expected to finish last in the division, via Josh Dubow of the Associated Press:
#Raiders odds for exact division finish per @betonline_ag
4th -130
3rd +240
2nd +525
1st +1100— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) June 22, 2023
The Chiefs and Chargers being ahead of the Raiders makes a lot of sense considering what each accomplished last season. As long as Patrick Mahomes is under center, the Chiefs are going to be favorites more often than not, and the Chargers still have a lot of talent and will undoubtedly be looking to erase the memory of last season’s playoff loss and go on a real run this season.
The Broncos being ahead of the Raiders is worth a discussion, however. The Raiders did finish ahead of Denver last and made a number of promising moves. The addition of wide receiver Jakobi Meyers in free agency as well as the drafting of tight end Michael Mayer gives the Raiders offense a big boost, though the success will ultimately come down to new quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo being on the field and operating the offense at a high level.
There is also some potential on defense as well with the drafting of Tyree Wilson and Chandler Jones looking to bounce back as well as other potential signings that could be coming as well. Denver added Payton as a coach, but Russell Wilson was abysmal last season so who knows how much Payton can bring out of him. Whatever the case, the AFC West will be a battle this year, and the Raiders will be motivated to prove a lot of doubters wrong.
