NFL.com predicts Broncos will win AFC West in 2025
Is it the Denver Broncos' turn to win the AFC West for the first time since Peyton Manning held the reins to the offense? NFL.com's Jeffri Chadiha thinks it may happen in 2025.
Chadiha made a list of 10 way-too-early predictions for the 2025 season, and one of them included the Broncos.
"The Chiefs have reigned over the division since 2016 and they've barely been challenged during most of the years that quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been under center," Chadiha wrote on NFL.com. "Most of that success comes down to the Chiefs' greatness but they've also been helped plenty by the ineptitude of the teams sharing the AFC West with them. Kansas City has been led by future Hall of Fame coach Andy Reid during that entire run of dominance.
"Every other team in the division has had at least four different head coaches within that same stretch. That churn appears to have slowed, though, with Pete Carroll (Raiders), Jim Harbaugh (Chargers) and Sean Payton (Broncos) now working in the AFC West. Of those three coaches -- all of whom have either reached or won the Super Bowl -- Payton is sitting on the most impressive team aside from the Chiefs."
The Broncos were a field goal away from sweeping the Chiefs in the regular season, something Denver hasn't done since 2014. Chadiha believes the Broncos' top-tier defense and second-year quarterback Bo Nix are the answers to the Chiefs in 2025.
"The Broncos have an elite defense, and it looks like they landed a franchise quarterback in Bo Nix in last year's draft. We know Payton can coach up the offense, especially as the Broncos add more playmakers," Chadiha wrote. "Denver is good enough to win this division now. With the other teams also creating more resistance to the Chiefs -- who went 5-1 in the AFC West after resting their starters in a Week 18 loss to the Broncos -- Denver will earn its first crown since Peyton Manning was their quarterback."
Broncos Country has been waiting for their home team to win the division for the first time since the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 during the 2015 season. Perhaps that long-awaited division title is right around the corner.
Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
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