AFC West ranks 4th among NFL divisions

Since NFL football hasn’t officially returned, there’s still plenty of time left to kill in this offseason, especially without preseason games to break up the mess. So, of course, we have more RANKINGS to dive into. Everybody loves rankings. Yeah? Yeah. Thought so.

These rankings are bring brought to us by CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora and he tasked himself with simply ranking the eight divisions in the NFL from first to worst.

Now, without scrolling any further, guess where the AFC West landed.

Was it top-3?

Bottom-3?

In the middle somewhere?

Well, if you guessed “in the middle somewhere”, then you are absolutely correct.

According to La Canfora, the AFC West is his fourth-best division in the NFL. Ahead of them, starting at #1 and going down, is NFC West, NFC South, and AFC North.

Here’s what he had to say about his ranking - and it’s not very pretty:

“Let’s be real — the division is only even this high because of one team — the Super Bowl champs — and, also, one particular player: Patrick Mahomes. They have the potential to be better than a year ago, have a bright core that is pretty much all on team-friendly deals. Plenty to like, with a Hall of Fame coach, too.”

Alright, that was a little rude to every team that’s not the Chiefs. Let’s see if it gets any better.

“After that it gets murky. Once again I am looking at the Chargers roster and seeing playoffs, but they fool me more often than not. Denver can play defense but will have a heck of a time getting all those new, young pieces on offense to fit for a while. Oakland probably has a decent offense but I’ll believe that defense is even below average — and not God awful — when I see it with my own eyes. Perhaps I am listing them too high because of the Chiefs, and the division may only send KC to the playoffs, but what a team it is.”

I mean, the Chargers technically got the nod ahead of the Broncos and Raiders in that explanation so I’d say I’m okay with the initial disrespect. I can’t help feeling that he’s a little low on all the elite talent that was added into the division, especially the young wideouts between Denver and Las Vegas.

Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler were both added to a Broncos offense with Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant. Henry Ruggs III was added to the Raiders’ unit with Josh Jacobs and Darren Waller. There’s a delicate balance of power and speed on both of those squads that I believe helps each of them stay competitive in the division.

So in the end, I think the No. 4 spot is very justifiable, but mostly due to expectations and not extensive resumes.

What are all of your thoughts on this placement? Should this division be top-3, or should they be lower? I’d love to hear your thoughts.