Williamson’s Look Around The League: AFC West

Las Vegas Raiders (Last year’s record: 10-7)

• The Steelers host the Raiders on Saturday 12/24, Week 16 of the NFL season. That is Pittsburgh’s only matchup against an AFC West opponent this year.
• As was the trend in this division, Las Vegas made a huge splash move by reuniting college teammates Derek Carr and Davante Adams, giving Carr a superb trio of receivers in Adams, Darren Waller, and Hunter Renfrow. The Raiders have fantastic receiving weapons, but last year, they threw the ball almost 63% of the time, which was fourth highest in the league.
• The Raiders defense gave up just 5.2 yards per play, which was seventh best in the NFL last season. But they only took the ball away 15 times. The Jaguars and Jets were the only team with fewer takeaways. This organization gave Maxx Crosby a big contract to keep him in a Raiders uniform and then signed Chandler Jones, another high-end edge defenders.
• The average regular season Raiders game ended up with Las Vegas losing by 3.8 points, 10th worst in the NFL. Yet, Las Vegas ended the season with 10 wins and a playoff berth. The Raiders also had a -11 turnover differential, sixth worst in the league. Josh McDaniels takes over as Vegas’ head coach.   The Raiders didn’t make their first draft pick until 90th overall, but they landed Adams to keep up with the arms race in what might be the NFL’s most competitive and exciting division.

Denver Broncos (Last year’s record: 7-10)

• Just eight teams averaged fewer points per game than Denver in 2021. The Broncos offense valued the football though, with just 18 turnovers. That was fifth best. Denver has been searching for a quarterback since Peyton Manning retired and in turn, made one of the biggest moves in the NFL this year by trading for Russell Wilson. Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon each carried the ball 203 times last year and even though Gordon was brought back after hitting the free agent market, this backfield should be dominated by Williams in his second season. Figuring…