John Elway believes Los Angeles Chargers are team to beat in AFC West

The Denver Broncos have their work cut out for them to improve upon the 5-11 record they put out there last season, but John Elway pretty much did everything he could to make the team better to start the season.

He landed Case Keenum at quarterback, who will be much better than anything they put out there at the position last season and followed it up with one of his best drafts in his time with the team. It was universally seen as a solid draft, but obviously those players have to go out there and live up to the hype.

In Peter King’s most recent MMQB post, Elway was asked about the AFC West and he is eyeing the Los Angeles Chargers as the team the Broncos must take down to win the West.

I think you never know the motivation why team officials talk up one team or another, and May is a time of smoke-blowing. But I found Denver GM John Elway’s comments about the AFC West and about one team in particular interesting. He told reporters in Omaha the other day: “It’s the wild, wild West. I thought the Chargers did a really nice job with the draft. They’ve got the settled quarterback, even though the Raiders do too. Looking at it, [the Chargers] may be the ones to beat. As I stand here, looking at it, the Chargers might be the team to beat.”

This makes a heck of a lot of sense as the Chargers have the talent on defense and an elite quarterback to contend in the AFC. The Oakland Raiders could either be good with Jon Gruden or fall flat on their faces, while the Kansas City Chiefs are starting a rookie quarterback and have jettisoned some of the best players they’ve had on defense.

If the Broncos can turn things around on offense, then they have the talent on defense to keep pace with a team like the Chargers. Which means we could be in for a wild ride this season. Who wants to see a sad-faced and mad Philip Rivers this Fall?